May 10, 2016
Dave Hill Tells Charming Tales of Slackerdom in ‘Dave Hill Doesn’t Live […]
A few years ago, on a podcast, I listened to Dave Hill tell what is perhaps the most gruesome, cringe-inducing Manhattan travel story I have […]
June 26, 2015
Comedy Is Life and Life Is Comedy in Judd Apatow’s ‘Sick in the Head’ Judd Apatow has been interviewing comedians since he was fifteen years old. Back then, in the early 1980s, a new crop of bright young comics […]
Feb. 3, 2015
The Standup Special Returns to Its Roots Shortly after standup comedy burst free from the confines of Borscht Belt theaters and metropolitan nightclubs, cable television began its […]
Apr. 30, 2013
Marc Maron Gets Personal (Again) in His New Book, ‘Attempting Normal’ Marc Maron’s new book, Attempting Normal, comes to us at an interesting and pivotal moment in his life. After two and a half decades of […]
Feb. 5, 2013
Watching Patrice O’Neal Surprise His Audience - and Himself - in ‘Elephant […] Towards the end of his last television appearance before his death, the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, Patrice O’Neal does something […]
Nov. 13, 2012
Revisiting ‘Shameless,’ Louis CK’s First Stand-up Special For a stand-up comedian there is, it turns out, a fate worse than bombing. Though enduring the heckles and hostile silences of a belligerent […]
July 18, 2012
The Prescient Celebrity Obsession of ‘Being John Malkovich’ I have been to the dark side and back! I have seen a world that no man should see!
—John Malkovich, Being John Malkovich
It’s been over […]
June 11, 2012
The Before-Its-Time Raunchiness of ‘Slap Shot’ We can do anything we want. We’re college students!
–Tagline for Animal House, 1978
So went the battle cry of the Deltas, the “worst” […]
May 22, 2012
Tracking the Rise of Comedy as Something Worth Following with ‘The Lowbrow […] In the hierarchy of artistic endeavors comedy occupies a hazy, confused space. The enthusiasm comedians are capable of generating among the […]
May 16, 2012
Gods of Rock (In Their Own Minds): The Early Days of Tenacious D One night in 1996, Jack Black and Kyle Gass — the rambunctious, rotund frontmen for the mock rock outfit Tenacious D — stood on […]
Apr. 27, 2012
‘Kingpin’: The Farrelly Brothers’ Biggest Flop and Greatest Triumph There are few locations in the landscape of American sports that evoke as distinct a sense of mediocrity as bowling alleys. As arenas of […]
Apr. 18, 2012
The Perfect Misanthropy of The Foot Fist Way It’s a rare phenomenon that a film so completely decimates an audience’s understanding of civility that it forces them to recalibrate their […]
Mar. 13, 2012
Zach Galifianakis Shows the Rawness of Standup at the Purple Onion About a third of the way through The Comedians of Comedy, the 2005 documentary chronicling the indie band-style stand-up tour Patton Oswalt […]
Feb. 14, 2012
Revisiting ‘Funny People’ “You cannot make friends with the rock stars.”
— Lester Bangs to William Miller, Almost Famous
It’s difficult for me to think about the […]
Dec. 7, 2011
Revisiting Marc Maron’s Darkest Days on Final Engagement “Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go […]
Apr. 8, 2011
Tina Fey’s Bossypants: How To Succeed in Show Business By Really Trying You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody at the moment as well positioned at the nexus of comedy, entertainment, and the cultural zeitgeist as […]
Mar. 7, 2011
Anthony Jeselnik Is Not an Asshole With 2010 over and done with, Anthony Jeselnik has a lot to be cocky about. He finished up a stint as a writer for Late Night with Jimmy […]
Feb. 25, 2011
Mr. Funny Pants: Michael Showalter’s Would-Be Magnum Opus When Michael Showalter first sat down to write his debut book, he set out with the high-minded and sincere intention to write an “important […]
Jan. 7, 2011
Patton Oswalt’s Surprisingly Haunting Memoir Once you’ve made it, it’s hard to resist the urge to take a victory lap. For those who’ve succeeded in a big way on a large stage, the lap […]
Dec. 13, 2010
The Benson Interruption’s Rough Transition From Stage to Screen Comedians speak often about the inherent isolation of their profession: the loneliness of the road, the solitary process of joke writing, and […]
