Splitsider

The first time I saw Dave Hill perform, he was giving a celebrity interview to Ira Glass and wearing — at least in my memory — some kind of kimono-inspired bathrobe. His answers were slow and sleepy and totally absurd. Periodically and without provocation, he’d solo for a while on the electric guitar, just because, you know. But while another performer might go broad, Hill remains disarmingly sincere: you feel a little like you’re watching him vamp in front of the bathroom mirror when nobody else is home. In his just-off-the-mark version of reality, none of this is a joke. In our world, it is, which is good — [...]

As co-host of the Nerdist podcast, one of the best and most popular comedy podcasts going, Jonah Ray wields a lot of power in the comedy community, but the show, which he hosts with Chris Hardwick and Matt Mira, is just one of the many projects he currently has his hands in. Ray is also a writer for The Soup, as well as an accomplished standup who hosts the awesome weekly show The Meltdown along with buddy Kumail Nanjiani in the back room of the L.A. comic book store Meltdown Comics.

Jonah Ray’s new album, Hello Mr. Magic Plane Person, Hello, drops today on A Special Thing [...]

The Sklar brothers, Randy and Jason, have been the Sklar Brothers for about 20 years, ever since a post-collegiate move to NYC and an embrace of the alternative comedy community. Where alt comedy has grown to be one of those terms that means everything and nothing, to the Sklars it meant an opportunity to do duo, and sibling, comedy in a different way, a more genuine way. Instead of endless jokes about being identical or an aping of a false straight-main/funny-man thing, the Sklar's comedy is an honest representation of who they are as everyday people.

And they've been able to take their comedic lens and successfully apply it [...]

This weekend, on NPR's Morning Edition, human hug-machine Jason Segel sat down to talk about Five-Year Engagement with the perfectly NPR-voiced Rachel Martin and impressively stepped up his earnest discussion game. Spot on is his commentary on romantic comedies, the genre he is best known for:

"The movies that I love and model after — like Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, and, in particular for me, Broadcast News — [have] the tone of life, which isn't a set-up/punch line every two minutes. I think you get bored of that movie."

Continuing on Broadcast News:

Eagleheart, Adult Swim’s fast-paced action-comedy starring Chris Elliott, premieres its second season tonight at midnight, and from what I’ve seen, this season will see the show become one of the craziest and funniest comedies on the air. I got to watch the first few episodes of the new season, and while I enjoyed Eagleheart last year, Season 2 blows it out of the water. Seriously, this is some awesome, really funny stuff that you shouldn’t miss, and you don’t have to have seen the first season to jump in this year.

I recently sat down with the show’s star, living comedy legend Chris Elliott, and the writers/executive producers Andrew [...]

This Sunday, May 20th, is going to be big for Hannibal Buress. At 11:00pm, his hour special, Hannibal Buress: Animal Furnace, premieres on Comedy Central and then 30 minutes after it finishes, at 12:30am, The Eric Andre Show, for which he is the co-host, premieres on Adult Swim. After years of being the most buzzed about comedian by everyone from Chris Rock to Eugene Mirman to many powerful people in show business to any fan of comedy, the buzz is finally going to reach an unavoidable volume. I don't know Hannibal personally but my first reaction is pride.

That's because with one off-hand joke, Hannibal changed my life. I [...]

It may be hard to believe now, but until the early '90s, the biggest influence on whether a stand-up comedian's career took off was left to one man: Johnny Carson. Not only would a shot on his version of The Tonight Show ensure that you could take a step up in the comedy world, but if he motioned you over to sit with him and Ed McMahon, you had the upper hand on any comedy club owner that ever tried to screw you over as you were coming up.

That's what happened to Drew Carey, whose career skyrocketed after his initial 1991 appearance on The Tonight Show, where he [...]

You ever get the feeling that the stars of Parks & Recreation knowingly act like their characters? Nick Offerman seems to revel in the extreme masculinity hoisted upon to him. Chris Pratt, though far more capable than Andy, apes his characters wide-eyed, big ol' lugness. In his interview with GQ, there are many quoteables that easily could be something Andy would say, well, if he was an actor who played a character like Andy on television. Mostly though, he comes off as humble mixed with Andy's sense of wonder:

As a newcomer to the world of TV, actor Timothy Simons is joining a very impressive group of writers and performers for his first big role in the HBO political comedy series Veep. Created by Oscar-nominated auteur Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, The Thick of It) and boasting a cast that includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Matt Walsh, Anna Chlumsky, and Tony Hale, Veep has a more impressive pedigree than any TV comedy in recent memory. I’ve seen the first three episodes of Veep, and Timothy Simons holds his own against these heavy-hitters. It’s a funny show that lives up to the high expectations set by Armando Iannucci’s previous work, and [...]

As the founding publisher of National Lampoon magazine and the person responsible for expanding the Lampoon brand to radio, theater, and film, Matty Simmons led the charge in creating a new kind of comedy during the 1970s. From producing the National Lampoon Radio Hour and stage shows, where he gave work to pre-SNL up-and-comers like John Belushi, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner, to producing Animal House, one of the highest-grossing and most-imitated movies of all-time, Simmons had a vital role in the changing of the guard that occurred in American comedy during the 70s. In addition to Animal House, he also produced two other highly-influential films: Vacation and Christmas [...]