Splitsider

In the hierarchy of artistic endeavors comedy occupies a hazy, confused space. The enthusiasm comedians are capable of generating among the general public is considerable but often fleeting; they seem unjustly deficient at inspiring the kind of long term devotion more commonly reserved for their peers in music and film. It was precisely this frustrating divide that drove Patton Oswalt to launch his Comedians of Comedy tour in 2004, a string of stand-up dates that circumvented the two-drink minimum drudgery of conventional comedy clubs in favor of smaller, hipper venues. “These are the kind of people that will support indie rock bands — for twenty years they’ll follow a [...]

Last month at SXSW, HBO screened the first three episodes of Lena Dunham’s new show, Girls, to a packed house. For SXSW, it was an opportunity to showcase more television writing, but it also marked the return of festival progeny, as Dunham had premiered her first two features there, winning the narrative jury prize in 2010 for her film, Tiny Furniture.

The buzz around Tiny Furniture attracted HBO and the attention of one Judd Apatow, who signed on to executive produce Dunham’s premium cable series. Fast forward two years and Dunham is standing on Austin’s Paramount Theater stage, doing some combination of glowing and blushing after the [...]

In the spirit of the heroes of this cartoon, I feel it’s only proper to start this off with a five word review: the show does not suck. But if you want to know more about the much-anticipated premiere of Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head, read on.

I went in to the first new episode of Beavis and Butt-Head with a nagging feeling that something would be off. I wasn’t sure what, exactly. Maybe a small detail in the animation, a change in the voice acting, or even re-recorded theme song (the first time I watched a Married With Children on Netflix, I almost didn’t make it past the [...]

The 15-minute absurdist Adult Swim comedy Childrens Hospital had its third season premiere last night, delving back into the world of solemn medical dramas to mine for more humor. Season 3’s first episode picked up right where the show left off, delivering everything fans have come to expect from Childrens Hospital: big-name cameos, rapid-fire meta-jokes, and a complete disregard for plot, continuity, and basic standards of good taste. Also, Rob Huebel’s bare ass.

Donald Glover is at a point in his career where he can basically do whatever he wants. The comedy community loves him, thanks to 30 Rock, Community, and Derrick Comedy; he’s attractive enough that fashion companies, like the Gap, want him to appear in their ads; he's nerd-approved, which is how the rumor of Donald Glover as Spider-Man got started; and influential music critics have come around to his rap, where he rhymes under the Wu Tang-generated Childish Gambino moniker.

In an already impressive career, that last one is probably the most notable. When an actor or, especially, a comedian releases a music album, it’s often an ego-driven move, [...]

Remakes and reboots are the acme of corporate entertainment. Perhaps it was always so. Repetition usually makes money, a consumerist morphine drip. But The Three Stooges?

When it was reported that the Farrelly brothers were casting a Stooge remake, I, like countless Stooge fans, took a dim view. How could they possibly improve on the original? Or was this a cynical effort to cash in on Stooge nostalgia? None of it made sense.

For one thing, The Three Stooges are from another world. Their humor sprang from vaudeville, which was dead by the time they were making Columbia shorts. They crashed through the Depression, World War II, Hiroshima and [...]

Over the weekend, I joined legions of idiotic Americans with the absolute worst taste in movies to go see Adam Sandler's latest "movie," Jack and Jill. As I stuffed my face with popcorn, surrounded by slobbering hyperactive children and foul-smelling adults who appeared to be shut-ins who only venture out once a year to catch the latest Sandler flick, I came to two conclusions: 1) I completely agree with every critic that has raked this disaster over the coals. You don't need me to tell you how bad this movie is. It's literally unwatchable, as in there were moments where I had to turn my head away and stop [...]

It's pretty remarkable how many dance movies Hollywood has churned out over the years. What's even more remarkable, though, is how godawful terrible most of them are. (Did you enjoy Center Stage too? We were so young!). I guess what I'm saying is, anyone who grew up watching Save The Last Dance will spent the first 30 minutes of Matt Besser's Freak Dance cringing in recognition. Cringing and laughing. Craughing. But you'll have to do it quietly because the Freak Dance score is part Jesus Christ Superstar, part Rent, and every note is worth hearing.

From front to back, The Hangover Part II is one big calculation. It seems to have run every single aspect of the first movie through a series of algorithms to determine just how much different — and how very, very, similar — the sequel should be to retain a target audience with no patience for new material, no taste for a new adventure and no desire to see a different movie than the one they paid to see in 2009.

Want a new plot that’s exactly the same? No problem. The guys are at Ed Helms’ wedding this time. Looking for a slightly more interesting location than Vegas? Boom, [...]

What a pleasure it is watch a movie with virtually no plot at all. Don’t get me wrong; director Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip, shown at the Tribeca Film Festival this past weekend, is packed with emotion and honesty and the gradual unveiling of the characters' rich inner lives. In terms of action, however, the film depicts exactly what would happen if you and an old colleague spent a week traveling Northern England on a restaurant tour: almost nothing.

Edited together from a 2010 miniseries of the same name and combined with new footage to make a feature length film, The Trip follows the fictionalized versions of British comedic actors [...]

Director Jordan Roberts' Frankie Go Boom, which debuted at SXSW last month, is an entertaining, charmingly madcap comedy with an indie sensibility. Half sibling rivalry, half love story, it follows Frankie (Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy), who grew up being tortured by his older brother, Bruce (Chris O'Dowd), an aspiring director who filmed the awful, funny childhood pranks he pulled on Frank.

As an adult, Frank lives in Death Valley writing unpublished novels in front of a handwritten sign reminding him, "Your family is poison. Stay away.” When his mother convinces him to come home for Bruce's graduation from rehab, he goes against his better judgment. The brothers [...]

Last night's pilot episode of Allen Gregory, FOX's new animated comedy about a precocious seven-year-old, begins with the announcement that Allen Gregory (Jonah Hill) is being forced by one of his dads to return to elementary school so that his other dad can get a job. In addition to his dads, we also meet AG's adopted Cambodian sister Julie and her dorky friends, who let a boy regularly knock the books and lunch trays out of their hands because that makes him their "best guy friend" (ding ding ding favorite joke of the pilot).

We watch as Allen Gregory is embarrassed at the hands of the impressive Joel Zadak, [...]

The titular character in John Warner’s debut novel, The Funny Man (out tomorrow on Soho Press), just wants to make people laugh. Everyone can relate to that.

Yes, he’s narcissistic, irresponsible, drug-addled and a bad father, but all that is a byproduct of his intense desire to elicit laughter from everyone he encounters. He’s just more committed than the rest of us, loses focus elsewhere, and eventually becomes a victim of his own success.

It’s clear after reading The Funny Man that Warner is an author who spends a lot of time reflecting about comedy and its place in our culture. That’s self-evident to those familiar with Warner’s previous [...]

There’s been a lot of talk this weekend about what kind of comedy Bridesmaids is — who it’s for, what it’s trying to do. Most of the buzz I’ve heard revolves around the comedy non-revelation that, holy shit, girls can be funny too, and look at these funny girls who are already millionaires for being funny be so funny even though girls are never funny. It’s ridiculous. And although I understand why comparisons will be drawn, over and over, to the “guy versions” of Bridesmaids, I really wish they didn’t have to be. Because Bridesmaids is, objectively, a fucking terrific comedy, independent of the gender discussions that people who [...]