What a weepy week it was for comedy nerds. NBC packed a double-whammy of goodbyes, with The Office's poignant series finale last Thursday, followed by Saturday's season finale of Saturday Night Live and final episode to feature Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and (perhaps) Jason Sudeikis as regular cast members, which was announced only days before. It is indeed the end of an era, not just for the network, but for TV comedy as a whole, and we will talk plenty more about this changing landscape over the coming days, weeks, and months.
Unlike last year's farewell to Kristen Wiig, which had a best-of-Wiig vibe that unfortunately repeated itself a week [...]
New Girl concluded their excellent second season by making one of the world's most awful songs briefly profound.
"Where do we come from? Where do we go?" mumbled Nick Miller in the closing moments of last night's season finale. He was paraphrasing "Cotton Eye Joe," which he justifiably denied enjoying earlier in the episode, betrayed by his involuntary fistpumping. The first question was something that was on the minds of all of the main characters all season long, influencing their decisions as they traversed through the murky, angsty wilderness that is living as a late 20s/early 30s year old with slapstick, pregnant pauses, and a lot of yelling, sometimes [...]
An episode of SNL feels most satisfying when the sketches come from a place of inspiration, as opposed to obligation. For example, when Justin Timberlake hosts the show, I don't need to see the "Dick in a Box" characters, but I would like to see them if the writers come up with a fresh and exciting way to bring them back. Whether or not a sketch addresses a recent news event or upcoming holiday is secondary to whether or not the sketch is funny. I'm sure the SNL staff shares this mindset — they really are just trying to produce the funniest show possible. But occasionally, in pursuit of [...]
The best phrase to describe Happy Endings, which wrapped up its third season on Friday night, is "live-action cartoon." Not only does that sum-up the overall consequence-free, wonderfully-detached shenanigans its characters get up to, it also describes the shows resilience, somehow making it to three seasons and 57 episodes despite ABC constantly shuffling it around the schedule and airing it in hour chunks to burn it off every year. Here's hoping it can survive the latest Friday-night-shaped anvil thrown its way and get renewed again.
The primary appeal of Happy Endings is the chemistry between its cast, the rapid-fire dialogue, and the very lack of emphasis on plot or [...]
Maron premieres tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern on IFC. The second episode, "Dead Possum", is available on YouTube.
Marc Maron and Louis C.K. are inextricably linked together, so let's just get these two facts out of the way:
A: Yes, Maron is Marc Maron's Louie.
B: No, Maron is not as funny as Louie. Not yet anyway.
