The last time on From the Archives that we checked in on Jack Benny, it was towards the end of his career, in 1973. While he was getting on in years, his oft-complimented timing was still just as sharp as it always was, and he still put on a good show. However, judging any comedian's performance at the age of 79 seems a little unfair, unless they're George Burns, so today we're going to examine Jack Benny at his peak, with the help of the new Shout Factory DVD The Jack Benny Show: The Lost Episodes.
I've spoken many times in this column about the various studios [...]
Usually here at From the Archives, the titular archives refers to the incredibly vast one at the Paley Center, but this week we’re going to be dipping into a different, equally vast archive: Johnny Carson’s. During one of his many contract negotiations with NBC over the years, Johnny negotiated the ownership rights to all of his episodes of The Tonight Show, and all 3,300 hours of this material exists in the Carson Archives, deep in a subterranean salt mine, beneath Hutchinson, Kansas. Of course every episode of Carson’s show isn’t there. The first ten years of Johnny’s career encountered a problem that we’ve seen several times in this column [...]
The slackers of TelAmeriCorp are back with the third season of Workaholics, available on DVD and Blu-Ray this week! Season three of the hit Comedy Central sitcom follows the continued non-adventures of Blake, Adam, and 'Ders as they get a surprise visit from Anders' father, fall in love with a webcam girl, and drop acid for the first time. The special twenty-episode season includes guest appearances from Tim Heidecker, Alex Borstein, Tom Green, Lori-Beth Denberg (!), Robert Englund, Jordan Peele, and Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. Don't be so butthurt, get weird with Workaholics: Season Three on DVD and Blu-Ray!
Nice Try, The Devil, the new Comedy Central standup special from the You Made it Weird and future TBS late night host (and also voice of that E-Trade baby from commercials) Pete Holmes premiered on Sunday, and now it's available on CD+DVD. The album is Holmes's second, a follow-up to his 2011 debut Impregnated With Wonder, and a lot has happened in Holmes's career since then, mostly the aforementioned You Made it Weird and late night things. Bonus material on the DVD includes two sets from Holmes on John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show and his appearance on Comedy Central Presents. If you are a [...]
In case you missed it during its short theatrical release and its availability online since then, last year's movie Bachelorette is out today on DVD and Blu-ray! The black comedy, written by Leslye Headland and based on her play of the same name, split critics and audiences fairly evenly, but the movie was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and boasts an all-star cast, which includes Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Scott, Rebel Wilson, Horatio Sans, and James Marsden, so if nothing else all those names of people you like in other things warrant checking it out.
