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December 24, 2008
The Sting
Tracy Morgan says, "Oh, Hello!" to a Mulaney-Kroll script
What's a "balloon modeler," and why is he breaking up your awesome barfight?
PROTECT YOUR NANA AND POP POP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Michael Ian Black has no friends
The newest source for ladyboners? Vampires.
Julie Klausner's holiday wish: Sue Simmons cusses out Katy Perry and Gwneyth Paltrow
Posted by Eliot in The Beehive at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2008
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival Dates Announced
Events will be taking place at Union Hall and The Bell House in Mirman's own hood of Park Slope, so prepare to knock some strollers out of the way if you want to get in on the festivities.
Sept. 25 (8 p.m.), The Bell House: Opening Night Awards Gala. Eugene Mirman hosts, with Seth Herzog, Bobby Tisdale, Patrick Borelli, Janeane Garofalo and many special guests. Fake awards show with food, "Bobby Bingo" and after party DJed by Craig Baldo.
Sept. 26 (9 p.m.), The Bell House: Invite Them Up. Bobby Tisdale hosts, with John Oliver, Aziz Ansari, Eugene Mirman, Ron Lynch and special guests.
Sept. 26 (5:30 p.m.), Union Hall: Eugene Mirman's Fresh Faces of Comedy. Larry Murphy, Greg Johnson, Dave Hill, Kumail Nanjiani, Peanutbutter and more.
Sept. 26 (7 p.m.), Union Hall: One of Each, featuring Aziz Ansari, Tig Notaro, Hannibal Buress, Morgan Murphy, Joe Wong, John Roberts and more.
Sept. 27 (2 p.m.), The Bell House: Apartment 2F Reunion show, with The Sklar Brothers, Sam Seder, Michael Showalter, David Wain, Katty Biscone, Leo Allen, Eric Slovin, Matt Price and more.
Sept. 27 (9 p.m.), The Bell House: The Very Best Supporting TV Cast Members Live, with Kristen Schaal, Arj Barker, Janeane Garofalo, Eugene Mirman and special guests.
Sept. 27 (7 p.m.), Union Hall: Eugene Mirman's Fresh Faces of Comedy, with Larry Murphy, Greg Johnson, Dave Hill, Kumail Nanjiani and more.
Sept. 28 (7 p.m.), The Bell House: The SHAC, with Heather Lawless, Chelsea Peretti, Shonali Bhowmik, Andrea Rosen and special guests.
Sept. 28 (9 p.m.), The Bell House: Tearing the Veil of Maya, Closing Ceremonies, hosted by Michael Showalter with Mike Birbiglia, Fred Armisen, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney and very special guests. Plus another party.
[Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival]
[via The Comic's Comic]
Posted by Eliot in The Beehive at 3:00 PM | Comments (2)
August 29, 2008
The Sting
Are you voting for change or would you be perfectly content with four more years of poo brown Pepsi?
Todd Levin is your comedy historian.
Women need a humor magazine. Period.
Like New York comics needed proof that they'll be eating Ranch 1 forever and ever.
Something about Glennis McMurray just looks...different...
Kumar Goes To Denver, Harold Stays At White Castle
Amelie Gillette, aka The Hater, Sees/Hears/Smells Terrible Things
Posted by Eliot in The Beehive at 12:00 PM | Comments (1)
August 20, 2008
Now That It's Official...
photo via Eric Appel's Flickr
We can finally congratulate Bobby Moynihan (most recently of improv luminaries The Stepfathers) on scoring a role as the newest featured player on the 34th season of Saturday Night Live!
And with roles in no less than three upcoming films (including a Ricky Gervais vehicle), 2008 could very well be Bobby's breakthrough year.
Congrats, Bobby!
via [E!]
Posted by Eliot in The Beehive at 3:45 PM | Comments (3)
June 17, 2008
The Beginning of the Twist
--Helping to put on a sketch comedy festival is hard you guys. SketchFest NYC was a ton of fun and it's awesome to work with folks who pour so much of themselves into making it one of the country's premier annual comedy events. We got to see a boatload of troupes from all over the place and gab with comedy people without ever really having to move. In case you were wondering, industry went bananas for LA's Birthday Boys and Canada's Dance Party of Newfoundland.
--THUMBS DOWN to Newcastle for promising to provide us with beer for the Fest... and then not showing up! "It will be there late afternoon or early evening," was the last message we heard from the beer reps before they stopped answering their phones and responding to email.
--Moving on... With the announcement of Aziz Ansari being cast in both The Office spin-off and Scrubs, it's starting to seem unlikely that Human Giant will have a third season.
--One thing that we're happy to see come back for season numero three: Wainy Days!
--This might already be known, but we've learned that the CollegeHumor show in development at MTV shares similar elements with its Hardly Working series.
--Speaking of the CollegeHumor gang, we caught Jake and Amir's stage debut at Street Meat last week. The FUTURE SUPERSTARS are taller in person than expected. Their full set, which was blogcasted across the world wide web simultaneously, is located here. One J&A superfan told us he was starstruck just being in the same room as all of them.
--The Burg is on a mission to prove that INTERNET PEOPLE have attention spans. A spokesperson for the series writes, "We think the future of teevee on the internet is in its ability to help a show find its specific, targeted, vocal fan base. Forget the 2 million who watch thirty seconds, one time. The show is not for them. We're after the 200,000 who watch the entire episode, the entire catalog, love it, and wait for more."
--Kimmy Gatewood's email blast sez, "The Apple Sisters are going to the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. This is a huge honor as they only choose 3 groups in the whole US to be in the sketch show! Bob Odenkirk and Bill Hader are hosting the show!"
--Michael Showalter told The Sound of Young America on Saturday's SketchFest taping that his application to adopt a pair of adorable cats has been DENIED. Could a clerical error be to blame?
--Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway are doing an in-store appearance at the SoHo Apple Store TOMORROW at 9PM. Steve will screen clips from Get Smart and discuss the making of the film which opens June 20. After the discussion, there will be QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE.
--BrooklynVegan does it again with a Rock 'N ROFL featuring Mike Birbiglia, Dave Hill, and The Futureheads. TOMORROW at 8PM.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 1:30 PM | Comments (1)
June 5, 2008
When the Drums Kick In
--We thought no announcement this week could be more historic and exciting than Obama becoming the presumptive democratic nominee UNTIL... wonder-duo Jake and Amir, revealed they will be performing LIVE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME at Street Meat on Monday!
--LA PEOPLE finally experienced the grief we feel on a regular basis when they lost one of their own, Wyatt Cenac, to a different land of opportunity (New York). We're jonsing to catch the new Daily Show correspondent/former Fauxbama candidate at shows around town.
--Max Silvestri and Gabe & Jenny have consolidated their shows into one: Big Terrific, every Thursday at Sound Fix. Jenny Slate recently pinged our "Ask For It By Name" radar with a featured role in a commercial in which she's doing the walk of shame. We forget what the spot is for though.
--Liam McEneaney told us he had a great time at The Sci-Fi Screening Room, a monthly themed geek gathering at Under St. Marks, hosted by Nick Nadel and Kevin Maher. Yesterday's edition was all about Batman.
--The WORLD RECORD for longest stand up comedy showcase, a powerful display of man conquering nature with precise scheduling and talent coordination, is still going until 10:30PM tonight at Comic Strip Live.
--Internet Week continues through Sunday. Right now, dozens of Internet addicts are leaving their computers to talk to more Internet addicts about all the things they'd rather be typing to each other.
--It's being rumored that Sara Schaefer is joining the writing staff at BWE.tv!
--Are you scanning this with your iPhone or iPod Touch? Check out what happens when you add The Apiary to your home screen. An exploding fist bump goes out to Dan Dickinson for that.
--PUTTING TRIBECA TO REST: While at the Bicycle Film Festival last weekend, we got the distinct impression that the film festival of the future is going to be targeted and ready to travel. Seems like a great funny film fest would be pretty easy to launch and take on the road. Want to start one?
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:13 PM | Comments (1)
May 9, 2008
Going as Far as These Crooked Legs Take Me
--We caught a preview of Adult Swim's exceptionally funny upcoming series Fat Guy Stuck In Internet, or FaGSII as the insiders are calling it. The EYE POPPING special effects will likely inspire a new generation to learn computers.
--REAL ESTATE: "Mo Pitkins was one of the premiere performance venues in New York City; it has hosted headliners including The Strokes and Moby. Lease is being offered at 21k per month. Approximately 3356 square feet; 1678 street level bar and restaurant and 1678 cellar. All recently renovated. No key money, transferable liquor license, current owners in very good standing with the board." Talk to Magnolia about it.
--With the Late Night move to LA just over a year away, it will be interesting to see which of Conan's staffers stay here (without jobs) in NY and which will go West with him. We learned that the folks on Leno's crew will have to reapply for jobs on Conan's staff and that none of the current Late Night staff gets an automatic free ride to Jimmy Fallon's crew.
--SketchFest NYC just announced their biggest line up yet. In addition to hosting the country's best sketch groups, this year's festival includes a panel with the creators of The Onion News Network and a LIVE broadcast of The Sound of Young America.
--We met author/one of Julie Klausner's writing partners, Rachel Shukert, last night at a social for cupcake aficionados/tech bloggers/angel investors. (We were representing the angel investors.) She tells us her reportedly funny new book Have You No Shame? is racing up the Amazon charts and that she's excited about her and Klausner's upcoming live soap opera at Comix called Wasp Cove.
--In related free cupcake news, Sara Benincasa will be giving them away at tonight's Ultimate Gossip Girl Summit at The PIT. Should be fun.
--WHERE WILL SLIMJIM ADVERTISE NOW?: Like so many video sites before it, Super Deluxe is about to embark on its slow path into the great unknown. It should be noted that Super Deluxe will not be joining This Just In nor DotComedy in the Internet afterlife because both of those sites are in Internet Hell. Super Deluxe was a rare bird because they had a great eye for talent and they paid their artists really good money. It sounds like it took a lot of people by surprise. Any details going around?
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 1:03 PM | Comments (1)
April 4, 2008
The Sting
Stereogum Sold Again; Videogum to Launch on April 8th
Late Show Caught in Infinite Time Loop
Profiling the Profiler: Carl Arnheiter Speaks to The NY Press
Whitest Kids and Dave Navarro Together Again
Learning New Words is Easy and Enjoyable
BestWeekEver's Newest Sensation: Pregnant Transman!
Apple Sisters In Steamy Wet Blouse Photo Spread
Peabody Awards For Broadcasting Excellence Announced; 2 Many Winners 2 List
Crackle Launches Original Online Comedy Programming 5 Days a Week
Joe Mande Sticks It To Famewhore Teenagers
Amy "Interview Controller" Poehler Chats With The Onion AV Club
If Obama's Father Was This Guy, His Book MIght Be About a Bunch of Magazine Articles
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 6:16 PM | Comments (1)
March 31, 2008
Tom McCaffrey Signs Record Deal With Crazy Hair
It was announced today that Tom McCaffrey will be coming to a boombox near you. From the press release:
Crazy Hair Productions (CHP) has teamed with Brooklyn-based It Takes A Lot To Laugh Productions to sign New York comedian Tom McCaffrey to CHP Management. The album is scheduled for release early this summer and will be available at music retail outlets in New York City and at www.tommccaffrey.net. The CD will be recorded live at Pianos (152 Ludlow St.) on Sunday, April 20, 2008, at 8:00 PM.
Photo: Anya Garrett
We e-spoke to Scott Rogowsky, the man in charge of It Takes a Lot To Laugh Productions, to ask a few questions:
When you say he's signed to CHP Management, the word "management" here means the CD recording and production? Or are you guys handling the artist management/booking/deal-getting stuff too?
Tom was signed to a record deal with CHP Management. CHP Management encompasses recording, production, promotion, and artist development. In its current incarnation, CHP does not manage the career of its clients like a Generate or 3 Arts would, but we are in talks with Tom to expand our relationship to cover booking and "deal-getting" responsibilities. A tour in support of the CD is an example of what we're considering.How did the idea to start a comedy label come to be?
Tom was the impetus, to be quite honest. I've been a fan of his for so long, and it just dawned on me a couple of months ago after a show we did at Roger Williams--this guy needs to be seen and heard by everyone. He performs just about every night of the week in New York, and I feel like he, along with so many other great comics in this city, doesn't get the appreciation he deserves. I approached my friend Travis Sluss, who has been running his recording studio and production company (Crazy Hair Productions) for 4 or 5 years now. He was working strictly with musical acts. I convinced him to partner with me and my comedy production team (It Takes A Lot To Laugh Productions) to invest in this new comedy label. He's got the equipment and the industry expertise... I've got the good sense to not let talents like Tom fall through the cracks.And if this first project is successful, there will be more to follow! What AST Records is doing in LA, I'd like to be doing here in New York. And you don't need me to tell you that Tom is not alone in that "underappreciated New York comedian" category.
Full press release below.
Continue reading "Tom McCaffrey Signs Record Deal With Crazy Hair"
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 9:57 PM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2008
A Waterfall Waiting Inside a Well
--Gawker is confirming that Donald Glover is confirming that Donald was not asked to join the cast of SNL. Lorne Michaels has certainly relished the casting publicity in recent years. This newfound broad-media fascination with SNL's new players has been spurred almost entirely by the Internet btw.
--RELATED: Lorne Michaels fears Guitar Hero. That game's not even scary!
--The UCBT unveiled a sleek new website that's got the sultry lines and curves of a Porsche Cabrera.
--We felt the comedy in yesterday's NVW debut of HOTTDOGGS was too sophisticated and self-assured for a random comedy group we've never heard of. Turns out the guys in it aren't newbies at all. We asked HD member Scotty Landes whether the group performs around town and he responded: "As, HOTTDOGS, no, we haven't been doing live shows. I've written for and performed with Kurt and Kristen for Hot Tub and Penelope for 3 years. I've also regularly worked with the Variety SHAC girls and with Andrea on Standrea. So we're around, but as a group we prefer to just work on these videos."
--Both Kurt Braunohler and Greg Johnson made their IFC debuts.
--RANDOM QUESTIONS: Do widescreen videos load really slowly on your computer? Are you working for 236.com? Should we start an online petition to bring back the DVD format wars? And is anyone else out there obsessed with The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch?
--BABY LOVER Susie Felber stars with Little Hugo in a new vlog at Babble.com.
--Eric Drysdale has left the writing staff of The Colbert Report. He speaks of some kind of INTERESTING PROJECT LAGER he's preparing on his new blog. [via Dead Frog]
--Big news from the Heartland: The Bastion was just as surprised as anyone to learn that the producers of Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival are starting a big new fest in Chicago. Who's in on this?
--Brett Gelman has revived his insane one-man opus 1000 Cats! He dropped it on the unsuspecting audience at Cavalcade this past Monday. Brett tells the NY Press that he'll be staging it again in March. Go. See. It.
--RELATED: It was brought to our attention that Jon Daly is the second to come down with the strange Dorf-like disorder which shrinks Cracked Out members' bodies and embiggens their heads when they appear on television.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 2:07 PM | Comments (3)
February 20, 2008
Donald Glover For SNL?
The Chicago Sun Times is reporting THE RUMOR that Donald Glover has MAYBE joined the cast of SNL!
Or have they? There seems to be something that resembles either a clue, a red herring, or perhaps A TIMELY VIDEO featuring a Barack Hufeign Obama portrayed by Wyatt Cenac. It just went up on UCBcomedy.com's OFFICIAL YouTube page.
FORUM FIRSTIES
LA Times forum mod Boomer puts the Donald Glover rumor out there
First online whisper of "The Bobby Moynihan Question"
RELATED
Glover's sketch group Derrick: The #1 most subscribed sketch group of all time on YouTube
An ancient Derrick interview
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 7:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
Thus Begins The Multi State Lottery Commercial Bonanza
The glass ceiling has been shattered, people. It seems that comedic performers across the city have scratched off instant games that yield TICKET, TICKET, TICKET to the lottery commercial jackpot.
THIS BONANZA KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
Ask For it By Name: Maryland's Big Bucks Party Pack instants, featuring DC Pierson, Gavin Speiller and Noah Starr
Ask For it By Name: New York Mega Millions, featuring Andrea Rosen [via Patrick]
PREVIOUSLY
New York Take Five, featuring Brett Gelman
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2008
Julia Allison and Demetri Martin Fly in Private Jets
Photo: Julia Allison
UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE Julia Allison took a trip to The Ohio State University to watch Will Ferrell's Funny or Die Comedy Tour. On the way back, she and fur trapper Demetri Martin flew side by side in a tiny airplane outfitted with Ford Econoline chairs. Read HERE and HERE for half of the story. Unfortunately, the remainder of the story and the how-and-the-why of it will never be answered because it was never Tumblrd.
RELATED
The Columbus Dispatch reviews Ferrell's show
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)
February 1, 2008
The Sting
"I Give You A Punch In The Face," Says Cabbie To Credit Card User
The Onion Brings Salty Tears To Eyes Of Canada's Bravest
More Mileage To Come From "Who Made Huckabee" Dispute
Jay Reatard Tickets Now On Sale
Victor Varnado To Perform Naked For Nudists
Hulk Hogan and Obama Form Tag Team, But Can They Beat Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly At No Way Out?
Setlist From Seth McFarlane & Alex Borstein's Comix Spectacle
The New York Press Gets Murderfisted
NEW TALENT DISCOVERED: Paul Fetch
Despite Being Chewed Up And Spit Out, Hud Might Still Be Alive!
Michael Showalter Tells All To The AV Club
RELATED: Wet Hot American Summer: The Musical?
The Sixth Borough Chats With Philly's Premier Comedy Blog
ASK FOR IT BY NAME: Take 5 Lottery Tickets
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:54 PM | Comments (3)
January 10, 2008
Fill Yourself With Quarters
--Dan Leif, member of the sketch group Cleanest River in America, has left both Cleanest River in America and America. We asked his sketch partner Jake Goldman to comment: "[Dan is] going to go for about four months to work on a farm [in Argentina] and backpack and the likelihood of him moving back is slim. We had a last show for him and it was awesome and ridiculously packed. A couple groups roasted us, C.R.A. did a set, and that was that. Cleanest River will continue on in some form but may not be called that any longer."
--Levine Greenberg, the literary agency that got The Onion and Kasper Hauser's SkyMaul published, is handling Demetri Martin's upcoming book.
--Improv Everywhere is inviting all semi-nudists to its annual Take Your Pants Off Subway Ride this weekend.
--What's in store for Sara Schaefer in 2008?
--FESTIVAL NEWS: The San Francisco Sketchfest starts today and runs through January 27th. Chicago Sketchfest is wrapping up this weekend. Both are depleting our comedian reserves.
--Eugene Mirman showed an unreleased video he made for 23/6 at Invite Them Up last night of him on the New Hampshire primary trail. After watching it, we could totally picture Eugene as a correspondent on The Daily Show.
--Page Six caught the broken wind of the alleged David Cross/Patton Oswalt internet battle over the suckitude of Alvin & The Chipmunks. Cross has been in so many feuds now, one would've thought the sacrifice of Scott Stapp's career would've been enough to quell the volcano within DC. The NY Observer talked to Cross and rallied to his defense with an article that includes this ridiculous graf: "'There's no small part of people wanting to call you on your shit. And I think some of it's deserved on my part, but I also think a lot of it isn't. I think a lot of it is lazy and not really thoughtful," [Cross] said, sitting on a leather sofa beneath a painting of Ronald and Nancy Reagan with Michael Jackson in his apartment."
--Speaking of possible animosity towards Patton Oswalt... at the Variety SHAC show last week, cringe comic Rich Vos made an off the cuff remark that fell wayyy flat: "Who's more overrated: Andy Warhol or Patton Oswalt?" The tirade ended abruptly there, but one wonders if he has more to say on that issue. At any rate, Vos continued to zone out the crowd with a several minute riff about fucking his grandfather.
--Feels like every other commercial these days stars comedy people. There's a new one with Jon Daly eating Pizza Hut brand pizzas. There's TJ Miller's blood curdling yelps in the Cloverfield trailer. Andrea Rosen in some kind of familial situation. Chris Gethard selling lederhosen for H&R Block. We even saw a former Late Night intern denying Whoppers to infinitely downtrodden Burger King consumers. We thought that YouTube just magically generates such clips, but that's apparently not how it works. Is anyone able to snag commercials like these?
--AND FINALLY: We've been informed that Teresa Bass, a former producer at Ars Nova, has been installed as the Artistic Director at The PIT. Kevin Allison will remain at the theater in a newly created position that will allow him to focus on marketing, creative development within The PIT, and personal creative endeavors... including but not limited to A NEW STATE PROJECT.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:39 PM | Comments (6)
January 4, 2008
Let's Dump Every Kid Rock and Chingy Album Onto The Streets of Times Square And Get One of Those Tranny Operated Conference Bikes to Run Them All Over
Not to get all Nancy Grace on you all, but there is not a single redeeming quality in watching Jay Leno do crowd work to kill time before a gaggle of gelatinous bottom feeding D-Listers potter through the Tonight Show studio. Same goes for the joyless spectacle of Conan without a proper desk piece and Kimmel speaking what's really on his mind. These are neutered, impotent shows which offer zero cultural relevance aside from the grotesque anomoly of them being neutered and impotent.
It's been a lot of fun so far to see Letterman and the Late Show holding the biggest ball on a dodgeball court. Despite losing the first night back curiosity ratings, the Late Show, in our minds at least, is the new hottest ticket in town. (It really is--Have you tried to get standby tix to Letterman these past couple days? Impossible.)
What do you think of all this?
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 2:04 PM | Comments (2)
January 2, 2008
Picking At Scabs, Resolving to Action
One has to wonder what slithering cretins out there have veins coursing with so much self-importance that they feel it's perfectly fine to cross picket lines and appear as guests on late night shows returning to the air without a WGA contract. This just in: Mike Huckabee is confirmed for Leno tonight. Shame on your false altruism, Mike Huckabee--you have the ethical standards of a slug. The message these upcoming guests and self-promoters are saying is that they don't care about the welfare of others, the welfare of an industry, or the welfare of the universe.
Tonight will be the most fascinating evening of late night programming since their return to air after 9/11. Instead of us tuning in to gain some sense of normalcy, tonight we are watching purely for moments of disingenuousness, any acts of public defiance, and the all-important train wreck appeal.
If the writers strike has taught us anything, it's that network television exists mainly to sell Proctor and Gamble products. Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock can and will be replaced permanently by Dancing With the Gays or whatever show moves just as much Charmin unless immediate action is taken by consumers and people outside of the industry. The WGA should zero in on educating the advertisers and they should incite the entertainment consumer to action in ways that immediately affect the bank accounts of the AMPTP. We're tired of the whole industry being held hostage by dudes with purses.
Here are the simplest actions you can make that will have a bold effect on the financials of the AMPTP, and in turn, help bring about an end to the strike:
--Do not watch shows that replace affected programming
--Stop blogging about shows that replace affected programming
--Suspend your Netflix account
--Stop going out to the movies
--Spend your Christmas giftcards on things that aren't DVDs
--Don't buy goods from companies who purchase advertising time on talk shows returning w/o a contract (Kimmel, Leno, Conan, Stewart, Colbert, Daly, Degeneres)
--Contact the advertisers of these shows and briefly tell them how you feel
--Don't be an audience member at talk shows returning w/o a contract
--Educate tourists in the audience and standby lines of these shows
--Don't be a guest on talk shows w/o a contract
--Contact guests and tell them how you feel
Action which creates financial pressure is really the only thing that matters. Right now, the pressure is on the WGA because despite "winning the PR cyber war," the balance sheet is still looking all right for the AMPTP.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 11:52 AM | Comments (2)
December 13, 2007
The Year In Old Media: the State of Live Comedy Coverage in the MSM
With all this striking going on amongst the WGA, the Broadway stagehands, and the freelancers at Viacom, it made us wonder if we have something to be lashing out at too. We realized there is something--OLD MEDIA!
Flipping through New York Magazine's 2007 Culture Awards issue, we noticed they had nice sections on things like THE YEAR IN CLASSICAL MUSIC and THE DANCE MOMENTS OF THE YEAR and so on. We soon became GRAVELY DISSATISFIED when we got to the back page ad and realized, something smelled bad. And it wasn't the Stetson cologne ad. There was no "Year in Comedy!" We wrote a brief (but soapbox-worthy nonetheless) letter to NY Mag earlier today.
"In your Year in Culture issue, why do you blatantly ignore live comedy? Does it not make NYC an electric place to live and work? New York bubbles with comedic writers/performers, improvisers, and stand ups, yet comedy can't get 2 pages of ink from a magazine that appears to think it lives and breathes the city. If you pick up a Time Out or an Onion, you'll find hundreds of shows listed every week. It doesn't make sense that you're out tapping people like Zach Galifianakis and Michael Showalter and The UCBT to help make your NY mag live events unforgettable, yet you offer no means of validating their existences."
Not that any of them need to be validated by NY Mag specifically; it's just that NY Mag is in the business of saying what's so great about NYC, so they should be all over this stuff.
Their glossover made us think of how other publications treat the comedic arts. Can you even imagine a Year of Culture issue without music? To that extent, since most newspapers and magazines would rather be the arbiters of music than comedy, we made our own year end list personifying each of NYC's comedy-friendly & comedy-unfriendly publications into music-related categories that fit their images. It'll sort of make sense in a second.
Continue reading "The Year In Old Media: the State of Live Comedy Coverage in the MSM"
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 7:44 PM | Comments (4)
December 6, 2007
Anyone Can Have a Good Time
--SPOTTED: Scott Adsit at Midtown Comics on Wednesday night. Do you think he thinks the current X-Men "Messiah Complex" crossover is a total rip-off of Children of Men? One can only wonder.
--Kristen Schaal is back in town. Was she always back in town? She tells Radar Magazine, "[Trey Parker and Matt Stone] decided my ideas were too weird for them." FishbowlNY has exclusive photos of Kristen partying in the same room as FORMER PEOPLE'S COURT JUSTICE Ed Koch.
--Sounds like Fearsome's Alex Goldberg is going to soon be battling for Google search turf from A RISING ALEX GOLDBERG, a 14-year old wunderkind recently profiled in New York Magazine.
--"This guy has like identical music tastes to me," says one anonymous commenter in response to Max Silvestri's Favorite Music of 2007.
--WRITE-AID: Robert Wuhl and Brian Stack are part of a WGA benefit at Comix next week.
--The Apple Sisters have been putting on one of the best shows in town lately. Let's hope their Christmas spectacular (opening tomorrow) keeps the buzz going. If Three's Company or The Golden Girls were ever to be revived on Broadway, the producers would be fawning over these ladies like Yankees prospects.
--Daniel Kitson had the SOLD OUT crowd cooing at Union Hall on Sunday night. He was working out new material for the Melbourne Comedy Festival, so there weren't a whole lot of punchlines polished yet. Kitson, who seems to be in the throes of an existential nightmare, kept coming back to the theme that we're all just bundles of piss and shit and spunk on a floating hunk of dirt. Oh, and when we interact with people, we're actually just interfering. And... how if we really thought about all the terrible things that go on in this world, it's a wonder that we can maintain our composure. Just as you begin to feel all is hopeless, he'll toss out a nugget of profundity that suggests that despite all this commiserating taking place in Park Slope, perhaps a tree can grow in Brooklyn after all. At any rate, he did remind us of some fun British vocab words like "knuckledusters" (brass knuckles) and "trousers" (pants). A gaggle of comedians and industry filled up all available standing room.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 2:40 PM | Comments (1)
November 30, 2007
Tell It To Menupages.com
--Victor Varnado made a video game.
--Daniel Kitson, the man who's currently THE TALK OF THE INTERNET, is coming to Union Hall for an exclusive 4 night run. Bumpershine is running a ticket giveaway RIGHT NOW.
--Regarding the recent spate of UK/International comics splashing across the pages of this website, a cherished reader wrote to us: "You should go to Edinburgh for a week next year. Go the second or third week when it's really kickin'. You'd learn about tons of terrific comedians that the rest of America doesn't know about. A few more very famous UK comedians are Simon Munnery, Earl Okin, and Josie Long. Josie Long is like the Kristen Schaal of London, Simon Munnery is like the 80's Todd Barry of London and Earl Okin is like the Jason Trachtenburg of London."
--We noticed that both The PIT and the Magnet Theater are doing charity drives for the holidays. If you have any leftover tins of beans or water chestnuts, now is the time to unload.
--The Comic Book Club is packing a wallop of a 1-year anniversary on December 18th with guest appearances by Brian Michael Bendis and Bill Hader.
--The UCBT is hosting another On Strike! show this Monday: The Colbert Report! Can't even imagine who the special guest will be. Hillary Clinton? Ban Ki-Moon? Wait, wait--don't tell us. It seems to have SOLD OUT before it was announced.
--Speaking of these On Strike shows, rumor has it there was a bit of a showdown between Lorne Michaels and General Electric in order to stage the SNL one.
--It's being said that Gawker's advice columnist, Tionna T. Smalls, is fixing to get her own reality series.
--SOMEONE'S GONNA HEAR ABOUT THIS: We usually keep our complaints to oursevles, but if we were filling out a Zagat Survey right now, The Triple Crown, the preferred bar of The PIT, would get straight ZEROES. We had a business lunch there the other day and ordered an iced tea. The waitress kept supplying us with refills but, little did we know, we were being charged for each one! At the end of the meal, we got cold cocked with a bill laden with outrageous iced tea fees. Swear to God, this is a rough transcript of the conversation with the manager, who, if you are familiar with the establishment, looks like a dead-inside John Locke from Lost:
Us: Hi. We only ordered 1 iced tea and 4 free refills. There seems to be a problem with this bill.
Manager: This is Manhattan!
Us: But the last time we were here, we did the same thing and were only charged for 1.
Manager: The waitress who did that has since been fired.
Us: Um... that sounds rather unbelievable. So, you're saying you don't offer refills on anything? Every restaurant in the world gives refills on iced tea.
Manager: We give refills on coffee and tea.
Us: That's what this is!
Manager: No, we give refills on hot tea.
Us: Look, we come here every couple weeks and have lunch. Your customers' satisfaction means that little to you? We're probably never coming back if you insist on charging us for 5 iced teas.
Manager: That's your choice. You don't get free refills on gasoline when you fill up your car.
US: This isn't gasoline! This is iced tea!
Eater would care about this story.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)
November 9, 2007
The Writers Guild of America Strike of 2007: A Special Report - Week 1
By: Kaetlin Perna
On November 5, 2007, at 12:35a, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) began a strike against the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) after contract negotiations between the two broke down in a final last-ditch conciliation to avoid such a protest. The AMPTP refused to budge on residuals involving DVD sales and Internet programming and/or broadcasting.
The DVD issues can date back to the 2001 negotiations and was a hot button issue then. Those talks were extremely important because the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) contract was up a month after WGA's, and if both went on strike, it could have had devastating effects on the industries in Los Angeles and New York. At the time, LA's mayor Richard J. Riordan pleaded with all three to come to a quick resolution and, fortunately, no strike occurred.
In the early 80s, when the home video industry first began, it was the AMPTP who decided the amount and percentage that the WGA would receive. No one could have foreseen just how big the home video market would some day become.
Now, the WGA, attempting to move through a 21st century world, wants more control as technology progresses and studios are expanding their distribution. This video explains it all.
The first day of picketing in New York City began at Rockefeller Plaza. Rockefeller Center is quite glamorous with all its tourists and whatnot. Many snapped photos, some sneered saying "this is the reason why I can't watch Conan," and others took leaflets that guild members passed out to people on the street.
At 10:30 in the morning, the picket line had no more than fifty people in it, walking around a circle next to a large inflatable rat. Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver made the press rounds from CNN and Fox News, to Regional News Network and WNYC. Laura Krafft showed up in the morning on a crutch due to a swollen calve, SNL's Amy Poehler and Will Forte joined in the afternoon, as well as Andy Blitz and Jon Glaser from Late Night.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:38 PM | Comments (5)
October 26, 2007
Current Events
--BWE's Alex Blagg scored AN EARTHQUAKE OF AN INTERVIEW, talking to an actor who TELLS ALL about being on The Hills in the kind of manner that will probably illicit lawsuit threats. We've long believed that The Hills of the 00's is totally the WWF of the 80's.
--In other BWE Editor news, we hear that Michelle Collins is taking over MC detail at Tell Your Friends while Liam McEneaney gallivants throughout the Old World. Liam is not expected to return until mid-December.
--DID YOU KNOW? The New York Times has a humor blog.
--Buzzfeed notes that there's a Stephen Colbert backlash brewing.
--ROBOINTERVIEWER Ben Kharakh is now pushing his wares on StarPulse, a site that we've never heard of that apparently gets zillions of hitties. Latest Q&As: Neil Hamburger | Nick Kroll
--SPOTTED: NUDIST Natalie Portman at Sweet on Tuesday.
--It's no America's Best Comic, but the NY Comedy Festival is holding their own best stand up search.
--UP TO THE MINUTE ROSEANNE NEWS: Roseanne Barr is allegedly confirmed for the 11/5 edition of Shoot the Messenger.
--Registration has begun for the 2008 Dirty South Improv Festival. It's held annually in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and keeps getting bigger and bigger. REGISTRATION DETAILS
--LARGESCALE UPCOMING EVENTS THAT SOUND FUN
- Offensive Fest @ UCBT- NOW - 10/28
- The Sketchprov Festival @ The PIT - 10/27 - 10/30 - CHECK OUT THE FLYER
- The Longest Sketch Show Ever @ UCBT - 11/9
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 11:38 AM | Comments (2)
October 19, 2007
Website Offers Seat For UCBT Talents
UCBT regular Nick Ross and writing partner Tom Murphy have sold 6 scripts to Tertiary Productions, a production company owned by Mainstream Holdings that's charged with creating video content for the social networking site Moli.com. The series, titled Park Bench, was shot over the summer and just released online last week.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:43 PM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2007
Now, Now
--David Wain is being called "probably one of the biggest influences on Internet comedy." (via Buzzfeed) Do you agree?
--Jon Glaser was SPOTTED this past Friday morning in WHIMSICAL PARK SLOPE doing what any good Park Sloper should be doing: gently caressing a baby's head outside of Connecticut Muffin. Despite our earlier prediction, and perhaps due to poor surveillance resources, we have yet to see A.D. Miles there enjoying a scone.
--Michelle Collins test-hosts a new late-Tuesday show at Rififi this evening, 10PM. Today's premiere features John Mulaney, Katina Corrao, Gabe Liedman, and Alex Blagg.
--Jeff Garlin stops by the UCBT on September 3rd. (via Ben)
--The wedding of New Pornographers' rocker A.C. Newman was presided over by Eugene Mirman and David Cross.
--SAGET TO ME: Bob Saget is making an in-store appearance next Monday at the FYE by Rockefeller Center to sign copies of his new DVD, That Ain't Right. Prize Buffet enthusiasts keep your eyes open, because we have a few of them to give out.
--We received emails last week from the creators of 2 different videos that were selected for New Video Wednesday. They each wrote in to say that after being featured on NVW, the links to their vids began racking up. The result: over 700,000 combined views.
--Super Sam is the winner of this year's Test Pilots.
--Finally, we hear that most everybody was thrilled with the sandwiches they exchanged at The 3rd Annual Delicious Sandwich Social. Billy Reno tells us, "It was a
glorious, beautiful day. The first nice day in the three years Jon held the event. The hungry crowd of more than 50 strong was heavy with improv people. A great and tasty time was had under a sprawling shade tree as I struggled to launch a crappily designed kite with my fam."
Photo courtesy of Billy Reno
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2007
Julie and Jackie, LOLing With the LGBTs
Big news just in from Julie and Jackie:
JULIE AND JACKIE WRITE FOR "THE BIG GAY SKETCH SHOW"Julie Klausner (TV Funhouse, VH1) & Jackie Clarke (Hannity & Colmes, Radio with a Twist) are the latest additions to the writing staff for the second season of The Big Gay Sketch Show on the LOGO Network. They join UCB Theater alumni Rebecca Drysdale and Eliot Laurence (Guile), who wrote for the show last season.
"The Big Gay Sketch Show" is Executive Produced by Rosie O'Donnell, directed by Amanda Bearse with Scott King (MadTV) serving as head writer. Season two of the series will air in February 2008.
Julie and Jackie host a monthly variety show, "Obsessed," at UCB Theatre. The September edition will feature comedian TODD BARRY and is Thursday, September 13 at 9:30 pm.
For more information visit http://julieandjackie.com.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2007
Street Beats
--BROTHERS BLITZ: Did you know that the director of the poignantly comic tale, Rocket Science, is Andy Blitz' brother?
--The Royal We's pilot for TV Land unfortunately did not get picked up. A short scene from the show has found life on Funny or Die though. Some of the We have splintered off and moved to other cities, but a source tells us that they are slated to reunite soon to shoot some videos.
--SO LONG, DAY JOB: The editor of this site, Nate, is saying sayonara to his day job today in order to pursue OTHER OPPORTUNITIES. If you have an opportunity you'd like for him to pursue, let him know. If you simply want to go to the beach or Six Flags with somebody on a weekday, he may be available for that as well.
--Carolyn Castiglia and Jen Dzuria tore up LA in some kind of Ford sponsored blogger vacation. See what happened.
--CollegeHumor hosted a packed preview party Wednesday night in Lenox Hill for Superbad, the latest Judd Apatow vehicle. After seeing the flick, one moviegoer said: "That was LOL-tastic." We agree. 4 out of 5 beehives! It starts off a little dialogue-y, but then kicks your ass with the emergence of the supporting cast of Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, and a blessed performance by Chris Mintz-Plasse. Superbad is totally super! (Feel free to quote that, marketing geniuses.)
--A lot of interesting comedy stuff slated for the NY Fringe Festival, which starts today. Among the titles that stand out: Williamsburg: The Musical, a new one from Drop Six, Earth's Vacation, and Arthur and Esther. Tickets only $15 bucks per show.
--Apiary contributor Eliot Glazer is one half of the comedy team being described as "the newest, Jewwiest, sister-brotheriest duo" to emerge in quite a while. Enter Eliot and Ilana. They're booked for Barrett & Goldman Presents this Saturday night at Rififi.
--Despite what this video says, Sven Wechsler is still with his girlfriend.
--Rob Lathan's character Dr. Lanny Latham nearly got booked on British television.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 3:38 PM | Comments (3)
August 7, 2007
Andres Du Bouchet to Write for Spike Feresten
If you happen to find yourself looking at Andres Du Bouchet's calendar and notice that it's almost totally blank except for a note that reads, "I'm in L.A. Once I'm settled I'll try to wrangle some spots out here. Hollywood baby!", then you'll be pleased to learn that Andres recently landed a writing position on FOX's Talkshow with Spike Feresten. He did it! He really did it.
An INSIDE SOURCE tells us that Andres is expected to remain out there at least until the holidays.
--photo by Carol Hartsell
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:03 PM | Comments (6)
August 3, 2007
Notable Mentions
--The comedy stars ran wild Friday for Liam McEneaney's birthday party last weekend. Who was SPOTTED? Todd Levin, Amanda Melson, Bob Powers, John F. O'Donnell, Giulia Rozzi, Nick Turner and OTHERS.
--Margot Leitman broke a foot. Fear not alcohol lovers, the injury appears to have little impact on her beverage dispensing abilities behind the UCBT bar. Get well soon.
--Fearsome's Shayna Ferm has assembled a back up band, The Upper Deckers, in preparation for a CD recording next month. Dunno what upper decker means where Shayna comes from, but we seem to recall it having something to do with defecating where one probably shouldn't.
--The Seattle Sketchfest line-up was leaked the other day. NY troops making the trip to the emerald city: Drop Six, A Week of Kindness, and Party Central USA.
--Dan Ahdoot is allegedly on the lookout for new management.
--It seems like the pressure at Rififi to produce runaway hit shows is keeping hosts on edge to fill the house or face the axe. Is that showbiz? Or is something else going on there?
--The dog days of summer are here and the demand for sandwiches is at an all time high. It's no wonder that Jon Friedman is bringing back The Delicious Sandwich Social for another go on August 18th. The DSS apparently spawned a brief craze in Australia.
--Sadly, the lights at the publishing factory will shut down forever for the print edition of the Weekly World News. Today is the last day of work for the staff at The World's Only Reliable Newspaper. Though Bob Greenberg, the managing editor of WWN, talks about the closure a little bit on his blog here and here, there needs to be a full-on profile or introspective. See what the nation's leading systems analysts are saying about the matter.
--What FEATURE FILM opening this weekend has Nathan Rabin of The Onion howling: "Technically a movie!", "Beneath the dignity of even Paula Abdul!", "Worthless!", and a "Pandering piece of commerce!" After attending a press screening, he writes:
I couldn't help but notice the surreal incongruity of pasty-faced men in their forties, fifties and sixties casting unstinting judgment on a movie aimed unmistakably, if not exclusively, at fashion-conscious ten-year-old girls. Even Roger Ebert was there.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)
July 27, 2007
The Sting
Just Incredible: This Just In to Just Go Away
Michael Ian Black Hosts Blitzen Trapper on PRI's Fair Game
Raise the Retractable Roof: Williamsburg Biergarten Gets Residents Jazzed
Rejected Jokes With Nick Kroll
Bravo TV Blogger Makes Office Experience Creepy By Saying Hi All the Time
Jen Dziura and Ford Automobiles Unite to Reduce Dependency on Foreign Oil
NY Post Wants You to See Family Hour at The PIT
Jen Kirkman Sez What's On Her Mind to Gothamist
The Malls are the Soon to be Ghost Towns
Wain, Rudd, Marino & Singer @ Studio SXSW
Andrew J. Lederer Lives Life Fast, to the Limit
Don't Buy an XBox 360 Yet, Wait For the Nationwide Recall or Congressional Investigation
Just In Time for the DCM, Revisit the TSOYA interview with Anthony King and Ian Roberts
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2007
Working the Beat
--You might notice the line at Connecticut Muffin or the Food CoOp is exactly one guy longer. A.D. Miles has moved recently to DECADENT PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn. He is reportedly working on a tv series for Comedy Central right now. He is also really into world music these days.
--Speaking of muffins, we've received word that Michael Showalter was SPOTTED Sunday buying two of them at a Flatbush Avenue coffee shop; one for him and one for HIS COMPANION.
--Did anyone notice that The Bastion had an interview with Posh Spice's personal assistant last week? WTF.
--New York Approves of Fabrice Fabrice
--Time Out NY comedy editor Jane Borden spent the week at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Read about her journey at the TONY blog. Dead Frog and The Hater were there squeezing out the juice too.
--We hope no one got hurt tripping over DEALS DEALS DEALS in Montreal: Someone should check to see if Eugene Mirman, Kurt & Kristen, Buffoons, Hot Sauce, and Nick Thune are okay.
--BUZZING BY: If you're a reader of AST or The Coming, you know that LA goes ga-ga-ga-ga-ga for Jen Kirkman. She's gracing our coast for the DCM and for a couple of other rare appearances. Dates and times at her MySpace page.
--BUZZING BY: Daniel Kitson flies in from Great Britain for a CBS/NYC Presents show at Mo's July 30th. Guh, PERHAPS he's taking meetings while he's here too... Both Kirkman and Kitson are scheduled to perform at Tearing the Veil of Maya at Union Hall next Sunday. Here's a review of Kitson's show last year.
--BUZZING BY: Oh yeah... PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY. What a week!
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)
July 9, 2007
Some of the Rage
--Jim Norton--who we've learned may be romantically linked to one of our favorite area comics--has a book coming out tomorrow called Happy Endings, which is apparently an explicit memoir about having sex and eating boogers. And if you believe all the 5-Star Amazon reviews, it's also about Jim's struggle with AIDS.
--Super Deluxe just picked up Eric Appel. He's on the front page right now. We hear that Gabe & Jenny have a series in the works with the website as well.
--Are you starting to think you missed the boat if you start a comedy career after college? An article in the latest Vanity Fair says that Hollywood It-Boy Shia LaBeouf was doing stand up when he was 10. Relatedly, both Rogen and Cera started before they could grow teenage moustaches. IN THE FUTURE, will you be more concerned some day about getting your 4-year old into a good pre-school or a good improv school?
--Speaking of the Vanity Fair issue we read while waiting for our Jet Blue pilot to put down his hoagie and fly the fricken' plane already, the August edition laid out a nice oral history piece about The Simpsons and a Q&A with Conan O'Brien.
--We've been told that Brown people were lining up to catch a glimpse of RISING STAR Max Silvestri at Rififi last night. The place was reportedly filled like DOUBLE STUFF'D COMBOS with Rhode Island alumni there to see Max and Mr. Showalter.
--Fabrice Fabrice makes a triumphant return to the UCB this Thursday. Reservations are still available.
--SPOTTED: Demetri Martin rocking out at the Cat Power/Built to Spill show at McCarren Pool.
--GIVEAWAY: TWO TICKETS to New York Magazine's Bad Art Auction featuring Zach Galifianakis and Band of Horses on Tuesday night. Just email theapiary@gmail.com with Bad Art Auction in the subject line and we'll randomly select someone at noon tomorrow.
--QUESTION: What places do you recommend for open mics? Where would you go to try your hand at stand up? We get asked that a lot, so we thought we'd throw it out there and form a definitive list of some kind.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2007
The Sting
Matt McCarthy, Pete Holmes, & Sean Crespo Booked For National Commercials
Improv Legends Centralia & Neutrino Unite to Save Cancer
LA Editor Rick's Greatest Contribution to Mankind
Vice Video Do's & Don'ts Show You How to Accessorize
Local Comics Like 2 Party, Have Fun, Etc.
How Come There Haven't Been Any New SHAC Shorts Posted Lately?
The Facetime Takes a Seasonal Hiatus
LESSON LEARNED: Drinking Kitchen Cleaner Bad Idea Unless Ur Composed of Inorganic Compounds
Sara Schaefer Has No Love for Adorable Baby Bindi
Due to Calendar Oversight, Joe Mande Can Still Celebrate His Two Favorite NY Things
A Glimpse Behind the Making of the Dramatic Chipmunk
Nick Kroll Guest Hosts PRI's Fair Game, Nails the NPR Voice
Summertime Happiness in New York
TO DO THIS WEEKEND: Wiimbledon in Williamburg or Everything Else
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:40 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
If You Want to Kill Something, You Gotta Know What It Loves
--If you missed Triumph at the red carpet of the Tony Awards, please review it.
--School's out for the summer... for everyone except Baron Vaughn! We hear that he's taking classes at the Queens Driving School. A driver's license might come in handy for all those road gigs he's booking lately. Ladies love a man with a car!
--Honesty, the web show produced for Comedy Central which later inspired a campaign to sell delicious McGriddles, has been nominated for an Emmy Award.
--Max Silvestri took over one of the Sunday night hosting spots at Rififi. His new show features a different co-collaborative co-host each week. His show is aptly titled I Like Attention.
--OVERHEARD IN MO PITKINS: We learned that Matty Goldberg is besties with the dude who invented The Slanket! You don't know what a fucking Slanket is?? It's a blanket with holes to put your broke-ass arms through. And it's taking the nation by storm!
--The Comedy Igloo, a Canadian themed comedy show hosted by Kevin Janus, makes the jump from the teeny tiny space at Under St. Marks to the grand concourse of Comix on June 28th.
--A rave review has come thru the inbox regarding the Street Meat debut of The Fabulous Belly Brothers--the belly slapping musical duo comprised of Brett Gelman and Jon Daly. Imagine your favorite death metal song or power ballad--but with belly slapping. If that's the hook, then consider us a big ol' trout on the end of a fishing stick.
--ACTOR/IMPROVISER Nick Cannon has been recruiting some NYC comics and sketch groups for upcoming spots in his MTV show Short Circuitz.
--The Kissing Booth held a prom-themed show recently. Watch your favorite drunk comedians attempt to do the Macarena.
--SketchFest NYC was a big success. The production staff always does a killer job. The sold out shows of the fest were MEAT, Summer of Tears and Elephant Larry. Personal highlights of the weekend included Kurt & Kristen's totally sick set and Dusty Warren calling us a pussy for not sticking around to slam beers with him. (We're sorry, but tummy-aches come first!) Another neat thing worth mentioning, there's a dude from Portugal who's been at every NY SketchFest--we met him three years ago and he keeps flying back just for the show because he has such a great time.
--The title of this post came out of Dion Flynn's mouth last night during The Ali Hour--a perfect pre-primetime show that's been quickly nestling its way into our weekly routine.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:25 PM | Comments (1)
June 5, 2007
2007 SketchFest NYC News & Buzz - Volume 1
SketchFest NYC begins this Thursday! We poked around with our hole-digger (not a euphemism for wang) and unearthed some rich and wormy dirt on this year's performers. Maybe if we all put our hole-diggers together, we can really learn something about ourselves. And our bodies.
A Week of Kindness - Thursday @ 7PM
--Mike Still has been SPOTTED screaming at crowds on Broadway as a CBS page at Letterman. A source tells us you can find him outdoors again later this summer in Shakespeare in the Parking Lot's production of Much Ado about Nothing.
--Dan Hopper is now the music AND the sports blogger at BWE.tv and he continues to maintain his own music blog at www.bandmadness.net. With A. Winer gone from the BWE masthead, is Hopper ready for a promotion?
--A Week of Kindness is in talks with a certain cable sketch show to produce some bits for them. Developments to come!
Harvard Sailing Team - Thursday @ Midnight
--Harvard Sailing Team will make their SketchFest NYC homecoming off of a hugely successful week at the Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival in Charleston, SC. Will The Harvard Sailing Team return with stories of how those lipless Xerxes-like South Carolina successionists indulged them with all the pleasures that Fort Sumter has to offer?
TROOP! - Saturday @ 11PM
-- TROOP! Agent Britt just got married and TROOP! Agent Jay will be doing so in October. TROOP! Agent Kevin will be the officiant in said ceremony.
-- TROOP! Agent Kevin is now in his 9th year of putting "TROOP! Agent" in front of the members of his comedy group. No other member of the group does this. Everyone thinks it's kind of lame. TROOP! Agent Kevin soldiers on.
Summer of Tears - Saturday @ 9PM
--LA based Summer of Tears makes their first/only NYC appearance since winning the illustrious Best Sketch Group title at the Aspen Comedy Festival this past Winter.
--PREDICTION: This show will be crawling with industry.
Kurt & Kristen - Thursday @ 10PM
--This is the last time Kurt and Kristen will be performing together until their Montreal Just for Laughs show in MONTREAL, CANADA! We've snooped around and discovered that all new-ish material will be showcased in a 45-minute show made to make you crap your pants!!
--Kurt is going to Australia the day after they perform at Sketchfest (to perform and surf), and Kristen leaves for London (to perform with David Cross) the day Kurt comes back to the states--meaning Kurt & Kristen won't be together again until July!
--Which isn't a huge deal, you know, because they aren't dating. But, you know. Kurt will be hosting Hot Tub by himself for all of June and the first week of July.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 1:14 PM | Comments (0)
May 25, 2007
The Sting
Greg Johnson Celebrates Memorial Day Weakend
Whitest Kids' Fan in Whitest Kids Tattoo Shocker!
Eugene Mirman is Such a Flirt, Tee Hee
Stewart, Colbert, & Conan Tickets On the Line in Charity Raffle to Benefit the Diseased
See if You Can Win This Comedy Prize Giveaway/Mad-Libs Challenge
Public Radio International Welcomes Chelsea Peretti
Famous Person Michel Gondry Stops By Recent Olde English Performance
Blonde Ambition Shaping Up to Be a Real Crowdpleaser
Joe Mande's Head Pops Like Balloon From Talent Overload
This Guy Wants All His Postings About Myspace Inside You
Sarah Silverman's Tees On Display Again in Maxim
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:32 PM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2007
Monsters Live in the Dark and So Do Our Fears
--There are a couple of BIG TICKET ITEMS TONIGHT. Uptown, the 92nd St. Y welcomes Don Rickles and Regis Philbin! If you love Midtown, be sure to catch the Little Mosque on the Prairie panel at the MT&R. If Downtown is more your scene, there's a Flight of the Conchords preview party at the Tribeca Grand.
--WATCH: Jackie Clarke defends adult humor to the humorless viewers of Fox News.
--A racist white man in an SUV tried to put a cap in Donnell Rawlings last week.
--Gawker is reporting that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are shooting Baby Mama in Park Slope right now. They better not close Connecticut Muffin for this shoot. Or any of the other places we Slopers love to sit at all day and stare vacantly into the sun.
--If you haven't seriously watched MTV since you last operated a VCR, it might be time to get it out and hit the record button tomorrow as more hot details continue to emerge regarding THE MTV NOT BLOWING FOR 24 WHOLE HOURS EXTRAVAGANZA hosted by Human Giant. Can Human Giant single handedly save the ailing network?
--We stopped by the engaging and FREE Ali's Hour last night at The PIT and learned a bit of unfortunate news. Logo's Big Gay Sketch Show has been picked up for a 2nd season, however, Dion Flynn has been cut from the cast.
--The title of this post comes from a quote that Ali made yesterday.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2007
News Around Town
--VIRGINITY PUSHERS God's Pottery have cut a deal with Comedy Central Records. They're taping for their first EP on May 21 at Comix.
--We've been informed that Billy Scafuri's web comic, The Librarianist, clocked in over 76 THOUSAND hits last month, due largely to the support of CollegeHumor.
--Speaking of, Gawker is reporting that the CollegeHumor boys had a POWERFUL BUSINESS MEETING with Ari Emmanuel, the dude whom Entourage's Ari Gold is based off of.
--An AST user notes that those Guru Pitka workout shows at the Magnet will finally come to fruition this August when Mike Myers begins filming for The Love Guru.
--Dave Hill reveals he eats four hamburgers per week and that he's working on "something" for Adult Swim in a recently published DINING WHILE INTERVIEWING THINGY.
--Remember being at those tiny, cramped, and musky Flight of the Conchords shows when they first came to NY a few years back? Well, next time you see them you can stretch your arms... because BrooklynVegan says they're hitting the US Interstates for a large venue tour.
--We hear that The Huffington Post's upcoming humor site, 23/6, is getting its staff in place RIGHT NOW. Does anybody know what it will it be like?
--We also hear that Leo Allen name-dropped The Apiary in a self-deprecating joke at The Rejection Show last night. Cultural relevance achieved!
--In Old Video Thursday news, check out Daily Show writer, Scott Jacobson's latest vid, Wearing Che.
--HelloHilarious begins the countdown to SketchFest NYC--one of our favorite comedy events of the year--with an interview with the LA sketch duo, Karla.
--HELP WANTED: Any web designers out there? We're involved in a sizeable project coming up that will require a web person. Send a link to your portfolio and your rates to theapiary@gmail.com.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 2:21 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2007
The Sting
Verizon Tries to Tell You How You Can HyperLink Their Stupid Website
Memos Better Left Unsent by Liam McEneaney to His Neighbors
Todd Levin Discovers Outpouring of Jugs During Virginia Tech Stand Up Show
Something Grody Floats in Will Hines' Toilet Bowl
Giulia Rozzi Holds Roundtable on Fashion and the Working Stand Up
Tom Sellick Hates Human Giant With Every Fiber of His Being
USA Today Discovers Funny MPEGs, Internet; Reports Findings
Improv Everywhere Opens Up Video Vault
Jimmy Kimmel Gets Served in The New York Times, the Paper of Record
Jesse Thorn says, "I Can Die a Happy Man!"
RELATED: The Coolest Ways to Die
Ptolemy Slocum Sopranos Stills
Can the Power of One Shiny Forehead Bring Down Perez Hilton?
UK Comedic Sensation Will Adamsdale in Town for The Receipt
Offline Citizen Critics Tell All After Spiderman 3 NYC Premiere
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 4:03 PM | Comments (2)
April 30, 2007
Bees Might Be Dying All Across America, But There's Still Buzz Here
--We hear that Louis CK told a story during a recent Caroline's set about growing up in Mexico. He went on to comment that he's more Mexican than controversial stand-up Carlos Mencia. No one's more Mexican than controversial stand-up Carlos Mencia! We refuse to believe the rumors.
--CollegeHumor just released the full version of the Michael Showalter Showalter featuring Paul Rudd.
--Dustin D'Addato and Nick Turner, proprietors of TheSeen.TV--an upcoming "indie comedy website to feature hilarious videos, exclusive interviews, and more"--is having a launch party this Saturday in the Triple Crown's new "party room."
--The Bastion was embedded with some hometown comics at the D.C. Comedy Festival a couple weekends ago. They filed a full report HERE..
--Matt McCarthy picked up the late Tuesday night slot for the month of May at Rififi. The first one premieres May 8th.
--Eat the Press posted an interview with longtime Vice Magazine writer Lesley Arfin, conducted by former Deadspin editor AJ Daulerio. Q: "Does writing for Vice actually make you infinitely cooler than most people?" A: "Yes I think it makes me cool."
--There have been a bunch of Morgan Murphy SPOTTINGS around town lately. Is she here in NYC for business? Or pleasure?
--We had a chance to see a taping of The Daily Show on Thursday and we got to see Paul Mecurio's warm up. Duder gets pretty raunchy! He threatened to punch a man in the face for wearing an ugly sweater then called an old lady a bitch and derided a slightly less old lady for being a slut... AND THEY ALL LOVED IT. That takes skill.
--And finally... at Reuben Williams this past Saturday, a RANDOM AUDIENCE MEMBER who volunteered to come on stage and give lurid details about her life and discuss the contents of her wallet in order to supply the improvisers with suggestions, revealed that she lives in the same NYU dorm as Academy Award nominated actor Haley Joel Osment. She gossiped that she often sees Mr. Joel Osment allegedly drunk around the building. 19 year olds shouldn't be allowed to drink, IN OUR OPINION.
Posted by The Apiary in The Beehive at 5:20 PM | Comments (1)
April 17, 2007
The Hot Gossip Now Network
--The Shark Show's annual Battle of the Funny Bands competition concludes this weekend. Michelle Collins, The Steamy Bohemians, Leibya Rogers and Adira Amram are in the finals. Will Michelle bust out her fabled Les Mis in 10 Minutes act? Or will she drop a stirring 6-minute Drowsy Chaperone number instead?
--MOVING: Hot Tub is moving to Piano's where they will warm up the 'cuzzi on alternate Mondays when "It Is It" is not there. As HT's email announcement put it: "Three cheers for partying in a bar! That's not in the Button District! Or the Meatpacking