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Emmy Nominations 2012: 'Louie,' 'Girls,' Bill Hader, 'Community' and So Much More

by | July 19th, 2012

The 2012 Emmy nominations are out, and they're chock full of pretty excellent choices in the comedy world. Modern Family has a boatload of nominations, as usual, getting a nod for best comedy series, six different supporting actor/actress nominations, and a bunch of others. Some more surprising nominations include Community's first nomination, for Chris McKenna's writing of "Remedial Chaos Theory." Girls had a great showing, getting nominated for best comedy series as well as Lena Dunham getting nominations for acting, writing and directing. Louie got in there again with nominations for lead actor, writing and directing, and Louis CK's Live at the Beacon Theater got nominated for Outstanding Special [...]

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83% of Your Favorite Famous Funny People Will Be On Stage at The Comedy Awards

by | April 24th, 2012

Look, I don't know if precisely 83% of your favorite famous funny people will be on stage at the Comedy Awards. But really, it seems accurate enough when you see this list of people who will be participating: Chris Rock, Will Arnett, Tracy Morgan, Maya Rudolph, Adam Scott, Jon Stewart, Hannibal Buress, Ty Burrell, Louis C.K, Chevy Chase, Paul Feig, Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Annie Mumolo, Amber Nash, Jim O’Heir, Chris Parnell, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, The Gregory Brothers, Aisha Tyler and Kristen Wiig. Also, more people will be announced later this week, potentially getting that figure up to like 87%.

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16 Years Later, Defending David Letterman's Notorious Oscar Hosting Performance

by | August 25th, 2011

In more ways than one, David Letterman couldn’t win at the 67th Annual Academy Awards. He was there as a host, not a nominee, which meant he couldn’t win literally, but unrealistic expectations made winning in a figurative sense all but impossible. And so at an event where almost no one left victorious, the biggest loser of the night wasn’t even nominated.

Johnny Carson’s impending retirement in the Spring of '92 triggered almost instantaneous speculation over whether Jay Leno or Letterman would emerge as heir to the Tonight Show throne. To the bewilderment of Letterman, and against the wishes of Carson himself, the NBC brass went with Leno. The [...]

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Jason Sudeikis To Host MTV Movie Awards

by | April 27th, 2011

Ryan Seacrest announced earlier today that Jason Sudeikis will host the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, June 5 at 9pm. Sudeikis joins the eight other SNL alums who have hosted in the past, including Andy Samberg, Eddie Murphy and the illimitable Jon Lovitz. 2011 hasn't exactly been a gangbuster year for films so far, but if Aziz Ansari could mine Avatar for gold in 2010, I think we'd be okay with a few more Black Swan jokes, right? I'm pretty sure we can count on at least one monkey-nibbling-a-weenis tribute number, and that's enough for me to tune in.

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Comedy Awards Update: Presenters Announced, Eddie Murphy Receiving First "Comedy Icon Award"

by | March 21st, 2011

The Comedy Awards are coming up this Saturday, and more details are starting to emerge about what to expect. First, they've announced that Eddie Murphy will be receiving the inagural "Comedy Icon Award." OK! I mean, the guy has done pretty much zero of value since Bowfinger in 1999, and that is one island of quality in a pretty big sea of mediocrity that is his career since the 80s, but sure. The guy's an icon, just not an icon from this century.

In any case, the initial presenters list is a much better representation of the folks making good comedy right now: Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Jimmy [...]

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Are the 'Comedy Awards' a Thing Now?

by | May 7th, 2012

Last night, the Comedy Awards aired on Comedy Central. After last year's ceremony, we discussed the Comedy Awards' biggest problem – it's an award show. From the Oscars down to whatever Nickelodeon's award show is called, the actual honor inherently doesn't really mean anything beyond it's nice to win things and it's nice when people we like win things. So the Comedy Awards, which seem even more trivial because they are so young, are nice because our favorite people get to be honored. They can, and will, self-deprecate towards it but it's still a worthy moment for people who wouldn't otherwise get that level of moments. As Paul [...]

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Ricky Gervais Hosted the Golden Globes, and Some "Comedies" Won Them

by | January 16th, 2012

Last night was the Golden Globes, hosted by Ricky Gervais, the most self-satisfied insult comic on Earth. As promised, he made fun of celebrities, the awards themselves, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Thanks to the overhyping of his "danger" by both NBC and Gervais himself, I don't think there was any way that he could live up to the expectations. That's his monologue up there, which contains the lion's share of his material for the night. Unlike the Oscars, the host really just does the monologue and comes back a couple times throughout the ceremony at the Globes.

As for the awards themselves, the show continued it's pattern [...]

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Amy Poehler on Nick Offerman's Emmy Snub: "It's a hot load of bullshit."

by | July 14th, 2011

Amy Poehler sums up Nick Offerman's Emmy snub nicely: "It's a hot load of bullshit that he didn't get a nomination, and you can quote me on that."

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The Comedy Awards and the Problem with Award Shows

by | April 11th, 2011

With most big award shows, the comedians who show up as presenters are generally the highlights of the evening, injecting some humor into a format that is by definition self-serious and full of unnecessary pomp. Comedians show up and point out how absurd the whole thing is, keeping a televised celebration of celebrities patting each other on the back from becoming completely unwatchable. But what about when the comedians are the ones patting each other on the back?

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Ricky Gervais' Unsolicited Oscar Jokes

by | February 24th, 2011

Ricky Gervais is not hosting the Oscars, unfortunately. But he did do the real hosts — James Franco and Anne Hathaway — the favor of writing their opening routine for them. And it sounds pretty good to me: JF You probably know me from 127 Hours where I play a man trapped in an enclosed space who decides he would rather cut his own arm off than stay where he was. Now that sounds "way out" but wait till half way through this fucking ceremony and you'll start to identify with him.

AH And I'm the new Catwoman. The first white woman to play that role since [...]

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The Webbys Awarded "Actress of the Year" to a Man, But Who Cares About the Webbys?

by | May 3rd, 2012

The Webby Awards are pretty stupid. Not that giving out awards for achievement on the internet is an inherently bad idea, but when in order to be considered for a nomination you need to pay a "submission fee" costing hundreds of dollars, it's tough to consider them even remotely relevant. I mean, look at the nominees in categories about web videos; they all come from big companies, such as Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, Broadway Video and The Onion (or from corporations such as Microsoft and Chipotle). Those folks put out great stuff, sure, but did they really have no competition at all from amateur groups? But very few [...]

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Brian Grazer to Replace Brett Ratner as Oscars Producer, Is Trying to Get Eddie Murphy Back

by | November 10th, 2011

Producer/haircut Brian Grazer has stepped in to replace bearded bro-child Brett Ratner as producer of the Oscars. Ratner had stepped down from the job after speaking the way he normally speaks to friends about gay people and women, but this time did it in front of cameras and microphones. Duh, Brett! That's basic PR stuff: always pretend to not be as gross as you are when microphones are around.

Yesterday, Eddie Murphy also dropped out of hosting the awards, although Grazer is reportedly trying hard to get him back on board. Ratner directed Murphy in Tower Heist, a movie Grazer produced. Whatever happens, we've just [...]

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Critics' Choice Television Awards Honor "Most Exciting New Series" That Isn't On TV Yet

by | June 10th, 2011

The Critics' Choice Television Awards might be airing on June 20, but they are already weighing in on some shows the rest of us peons won't see for months. The show is giving a shout-out to new programs via the Most Exciting New Series award, specifically for shows premiering after June 1, 2011. The category is "voted by broadcast journalists who have seen the pilots and any available episodes," who are no doubt lording it over their friends and family as we speak, saying things like "There's this great part where…oh right, you didn't see yet," or wordlessly pausing to chuckle and shake their head while drinking [...]

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Winners And More Winners At The First Annual Comedy Awards

by | March 28th, 2011

Since the show taped this weekend, we already pretty much know the Comedy Awards winners. Let's all agree to still watch the show on April 10, right? Solidarity! As for the Natalie Portmans and Colin Firths of the evening, Eddie Murphy was presented the Comedy Icon award while David Letterman received the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence, as presented by Bill Murray. Next year Letterman can hand the award right back to Murray, and from there it can pass like a hot potato between all of the massively talented people in attendance, forever. Some of the night's winners included:

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