Friday November 27, 2009
Well, after a series of dizzying highs, soul-crushing lows and creamy middles, our week of giving thanks to comedians is at an end. I had originally intended to give thanks to Zach Galifianakis today, because this is the year he finally broke out as a superstar thanks to the success of The Hangover. But then I realized that I had already given it up to one of the Comedians of Comedy this week, and felt like I ought to spread the love -- so I'm spreading it all the way across The Pond to England until it lands on British comedian Russell Brand.
Listening to an interview with Brand during a recent rerun of The Howard Stern Show on SIRIUS, I was reminded of just how quick and funny he is, and what a gift he has for spinning language. Though he still hasn't quite caught on in the U.S. to the degree that he has in his native country -- despite a two-year stint as host of the Video Music Awards on MTV and a scene-stealing role in the excellent 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- the glass-half-full in me wants to believe that it's only a matter of time before we fully embrace him. Sure, that's overrule in my mind by the idea that Brand is destined largely for cult fame; not only does he have an accent, but he also dresses strange and has outlandish style and talks very fast in purplish prose. At a time when Jeff Dunham and Larry the Cable Guy are two of the biggest acts in comedy, it doesn't quite seem like audiences want a comic who celebrates language the way Brand does.
Still, I've got my hopes up. He's already had one very good special, Russell Brand in New York City, on Comedy Central, and has a whole slate of movie projects coming up including Get Him to the Greek (a Judd Apatow-produced sort-of sequel to Sarah Marshall in which Brand will reprise his Aldous Snow character) and remakes of both Arthur and Drop Dead Fred. I'll admit I'm less-than-thrilled about the prospects of those remakes -- mostly because I kind of loathe the notion of remakes in general these days -- but I'll happily accept anything that makes Brand a bigger star.
THANKS, RUSSELL BRAND!
Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Thursday November 26, 2009
Yay! Today is Thanksgiving for a lot of you! Also, it's November 26th for those of you that don't celebrate Thanksgiving. But seeing as it's a holiday devoted solely to eating as much food as possible, it seemed fitting that today we give thanks for America's best food-centric comedian: Jim Gaffigan.
Gaffigan (who you may recognize from his commercial work or a supporting turn on the TBS sitcom My Boys, which I think people watch) is one of the sharpest critics of the lazy, overly-indulgent everyman to ever step behind a microphone. But unlike other socially critical comedians -- like, say, George Carlin -- Gaffigan doesn't point the finger at the audience; he ingratiates himself by becoming one of them. Food and gluttony are among his favorite topics (making him perfect to talk about today); he rose to stand-up fame with an incredibly popular routine about Hot Pockets (watch the video here) and, on his most recent special King Baby, followed it up with an equally astute bit on bacon ("Want to know how good bacon is? To improve other foods, they wrap it in bacon.").
He also created another signature bit that's been ripped off time and again by other, less comedians: he voices the interior monologue of the audience on stage, who is usually criticizing something in Gaffigan's act. It's a simple concept, but he's become well-known for it and it helps contribute to the overall oddness of his onstage persona. Seeing bad comedians try and pull it off -- and poorly -- has the tendency to fill me with anger. But that's not what today is about! Today is about food and the eating of food. So let's all have a big turkey Hot Pocket in honor of Jim Gaffigan!
THANKS, JIM GAFFIGAN!
Photo by Martin Crook/courtesy Comedy Central
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Today, dear readers, we give thanks to one of the all-time greats: one Louis C.K. Though he spent many years in a more behind-the-scenes capacity (he was a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Dana Carvey Show and The Chris Rock Show), , Louis C.K. was always known and beloved amongst the comedy community. Thanks to several incredible stand-up specials (Shameless and Chewed Up) and a short-lived dirty sitcom on HBO (Lucky Louie), the comedian finally started to get some of the attention he so richly deserves in the 2000s. A viral video of C.K. on Conan bitching about impatience on airplanes made him a full-blown star, and it couldn't happen to a more talented comedian. Not even Pootie Tang (which he directed) can bring this guy down, as even that is now being seen as a cult classic.
I can't think of a comic working now who's darker or edgier than C.K. -- at least, one who still manages to be funny and isn't just trying to be dark and edgy. I had the chance to see him perform as part of "The Nasty Show" during this summer's Just for Laughs Chicago festival, and he was hands-down the best comic I saw over the course of five days. It's unfortunate that we didn't get a new stand-up special from him this year (his plan was to do one a year), but I guess that will make the next one all the more rewarding when it does come along. Because we've earned it with our patience.
Let's hope his new FX sitcom, due in 2010, makes him a household name. He's one of -- if not the -- best stand-up comics working today.
THANK YOU, LOUIS C.K.!
Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images
Tuesday November 24, 2009
It's Day Two of our week-long comedian love-fest, and in honor of her Black Friday Target ads that seem to be running ALL THE TIME, we're giving thanks for Maria Bamford today. Do you know the commercials I'm talking about? The cute blonde lady in the red dress climbing a ladder or dragging bags and giving that too-sincere smile while going on and on about getting ready for the big Friday sales at Target? Those ones? That's Maria Bamford.
While I should be lamenting the fact that most of America is now going to know Bamford as the "lady from the Target commercials," I've decided that in the spirit of the Big Dinner that I should be thankful she'll be known by way more people after this week. Her newest album, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, is a great sustained piece of character comedy in which Bamford assumes dozens of personas and voices. Even if you didn't think it was funny -- for which you would be wrong, by the way -- you can't deny that it's an impressive feat. It's one of my favorite comedy albums of the year.
And, as long as we're giving thanks, let's throw a little bit (a lot) of love towards The Comedians of Comedy, the now-defunct alternative comedy tour featuring Bamford, Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis. It was a great comedy package to which Bamford fit in perfectly, as each comic offered something a little different for the audience. In 2005, a documentary/concert film of The Comedians was released, and it was great to see how their interactions with one another offstage were just as funny as their live acts. I could watch that movie once a week and never get tired of it.
THANKS, MARIA BAMFORD!
Photo by Marsalli McGrath/Getty Images
