MADTV AXED AFTER MUCH LONGER RUN THAN ANYONE THOUGHT POSSIBLE • "Though the high-profile political season has gifted Saturday Night Live with some killer ratings, it apparently hasn't floated all sketch comedy boats. Rumors started circulating today that Fox's MADtv was canceled in the middle of its fourteenth season, so Defamer checked in with one of our operatives to get the scoop: 'It's true,' said the highly-placed source. 'We're finishing out the season, then we're done.'"
PRESIDENT OBAMA CHANGES COMEDY "Stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr said the coming Obama presidency — already burdened by huge expectations and vast challenges — would provide rich material and 'raise the intelligence of the jokes.' The discussion, held in Manhattan at the opening of the New York Comedy Festival, soon gave a foretaste of the edginess likely in wisecracks about Obama, the country's first black president-elect. When Barr innocently predicted 'very pointed jokes, tip of the spear jokes,' fellow comedian Robert George, who is black, asked in mock shock: 'Did you say tip of the SPEAR jokes about a black man?'"
We're not jumping to conclusions here, but, just in case, here's three famous black comedians' (NSFW!!!!) takes on what it would be like to have a black president.
SNL MILKING THE CAMPAIGNS FOR ONE MORE WEEKEND "The McCain-Palin ticket just booked another trip to 30 Rock, according to sources on the inside. This Saturday, Nov. 1, Senator John McCain is said to be making an appearance on the show, the last live episode before voters hit the voting booths. Earlier, it was rumored that Senator Barack Obama, McCain's rival, would be making a Nov. 1 appearance on 'SNL.' A rep for the show issued the standard response, 'We aren’t confirming anything,' but sources inside 30 Rock and the McCain camp believe the senator is gearing up for an appearance. 'It’s really his last chance to appeal to younger voters,' says a McCain source."
The "Terrible" Terry Tate character of Office Linebacker fame is back to try and persuade you to vote. And he's kicking Sarah Palin's "gobbledygook"-talking ass all along the way.
Videos after the jump.
CONTINUED »
SARAH SILVERMAN HECKLED OFF STAGE IN LONDON "US comedian Sarah Silverman was heckled on stage during her UK stand-up debut in London. Fans, who had paid about £50 a ticket, slow hand clapped and shouted they wanted their money back after the star's short 40-minute set. After the audience refused to leave, Silverman was forced to give a Q&A session as an encore after admitting she had no other material prepared. … Unimpressed fans shouted 'you're over-hyped Sarah' and 'I've seen longer clips on YouTube', before the star told the audience to 'go home' and the left the stage. … The Daily Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish described the comic as 'skipping away in near-disgrace' after the 'excruciatingly embarrassing' question and answer session."
It's official: Tomorrow, Sarah Palin is going to brave New York's queers and Jews and malicious blacks and pregnant teenagers (who would be fine if they weren't Dominican) in order to appear on television's most inconsistent mainstay, Saturday Night Live.
Now the questions is, how will the SNL writers and cast find humor in such a stoic, reasonable and bright woman like Palin? We've decided to help them out and create a gallery of the funniest REAL Sarah Palin images we could find. True, some are less "funny ha ha" and more "funny oh good god look at all that fucking blood" or "funny oh Jesus Christ that's a goddamn war criminal," but black comedy is a dying art form we'd like to see stick around. Enjoy, and feel free to include in the comments any links to pics we forgot.
CONTINUED »
Comedy Central's first attempt at black (as in African American) comedy following Dave Chappelle's untimely 2006 departure, Chocolate News, premieres tomorrow night. In the same vein as prime time heavyweights The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Chocolate News will attempt to mock news of the day with a wry, liberal bent. From what I've seen, it's not going to work.
BRUTAL, BITTER STRUGGLE OF AN ELECTION YIELDS GREAT COMEDY "The presidential campaign has been very, very good to 'Saturday Night Live.' 'SNL' has experienced a hefty bump in the Nielsen polls this election season, boasting a 50% gain over last season’s first two episodes. … Comedy Central’s 'The Daily Show' is coming off its most-watched week in history, averaging 1.9 million viewers last week — up 28% from last year. Of course, last year, the world hadn’t yet heard of Sarah Palin, and both Barack Obama and John McCain were considered longshots for their respective party nominations. A year later, the U.S. is in the midst of a presidential campaign that many have described as unusual and unexpected — in other words, perfect fodder for 'SNL' and 'The Daily Show,' not to mention Comedy Central’s 'The Colbert Report' and HBO’s 'Real Time With Bill Maher.'"
Dane Cook is the worst and that is surprising to no one. He's the worst at telling jokes, the worst at making movies, and the worst at being himself. Dane Cook is the triple threat of terrible.
So when the posters for My Best Friend's Girl came out, co-starring Cook and Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs, and looked terrible (see left) Dane Cook had no one to blame but himself. And the people who make movie posters, obviously, since they were trying to ruin his career with crappy artwork. And Dane Cook doesn't need anyone else making him look like an idiot, okay? He's got it covered.
Surprisingly then, the reviews for MBFG were not quite ecstatic for Mr. Cook's performance as an asshole-for-hire, and the film opened in 3rd place this weekend to a dismal $8.5 million (still more than Bangkok Dangerous though). Let's see where the movie did Dane wrong:
FEY'S PALIN MOCKERY SCORES BIG "… Tina Fey's 'Saturday Night Live' spoof of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday … gave NBC.com its most-watched viral video ever. The video not only topped past favorites like 'Dick in a Box' and 'Lazy Sunday,' but managed to outdo copies uploaded to YouTube. … Fey's mimicry of Palin has been a barnburner for NBC.com, garnering 5.7 million views as of Wednesday, according to internal NBC data. That is far and away the most popular video on the site, easily exceeding second-place finisher 'Box,' which collected just over 1 million views on NBC.com."
ALIENS GET A CHANCE TO HAVE THEIR OWN COLBERT "Should this world ever cease to exist, Stephen Colbert will live on. The comedian's DNA will be digitized and sent to the International Space Station, Comedy Central was to announce Monday. In October, video game designer Richard Garriott will travel to the station and deposit Colbert's genes for an 'Immortality Drive.' 'I am thrilled to have my DNA shot into space, as this brings me one step closer to my lifelong dream of being the baby at the end of 2001,' Colbert said in a statement, referring to the 1968 landmark science fiction film '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Garriott, one of few private citizens to travel into space, is collecting material for a time capsule of human DNA, a history of humanity's greatest achievements and personal messages. The host of 'The Colbert Report' will essentially be preserved so that aliens can clone him."
RUSSIA SEEKS TO FURTHER BAN LAUGHTER "Prosecutors in Russia want to ban the award-winning satirical U.S. cartoon South Park, calling the series 'extremist' after receiving viewer complaints, a spokeswoman said on Monday. … The Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith had asked prosecutors to ban South Park after it said 20 experts had studied the show for its effect on young viewers. The group's leader, Konstantin Bendas, said 'South Park is just one of many cartoons that need to be banned from open broadcast…as it insults the feelings of religious believers and incites religious and national hatred.'"
OK, we know that by now everyone's as tired of Sarah Palin as the wolves the Alaskan governor uses airplanes to chase to the furthest reaches of her snowy state. But this Daily Show clip – an infuriating tally sheet of conservative mendacity – is simply too good not to post.
And before anyone starts to complain about how we've grown into single-minded meanies, note that this clip knocks the media much more than it does Sarah Palin.
CRUISE TURNING TO COMEDIES TO SURVIVE "After his hilarious turn in Tropic Thunder, Tom Cruise’s comedic strategy for revitalizing his image seems to be on track. Next step in crafting Tom’s new public persona may be doing a little something for your kids, by voicing a character in Shrek 4.
Actor and comedian Bernie Mac died in a Chicago-area hospital today from complications due to pneumonia. He was 50 years old. Mac had been admitted to the hospital on August 1 but at the time was expected to make a full recovery, according to his rep. No other details were made available.
He will be missed.
[Source]
ROBIN WILLIAMS TO TALK IN WACKY VOICES ABOUT IRAQ "When the going gets tough, Robin Williams gets going. This fall, the Oscar-winning actor and famously animated funnyman is hitting the road for his first stand-up comedy tour in six years. Weapons of Self-Destruction kicks off Sept. 25, with stops in cities that include Chicago, Nashville and Baltimore. His last tour, in 2002, was filmed for HBO; the resulting program, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, earned him two Emmy nominations. Why go back out now? 'It's an interesting time, as they say,' Williams says. 'I'll talk about everything that's going on. The election. The choices. What are we going to do?'"
DO YOU HAVE TO LET IT LINGER? "Smartypants magazine editor to CNN: If Comedy Central can do it, why can't we? That was a good part of New Yorker editor David Remnick's argument to Wolf Blitzer about the controversy the current issue of the magazine has whipped up by portraying Barack Obama and his wife as a couple of gun-slinging, bin Laden-loving terrorists on its cover. Remnick likened what the magazine has done to what 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' do every weeknight on television. He said the point of the cover was to satirize the many right-wing rumors and innuendoes that have spread virally about the Democratic candidate."
Editor
