Mike Scully is living proof that if you just spend your childhood watching TV and have no college degree or any other marketable skills, you can always fall back on show business.
[Full disclosure: the preceding line was Scully’s invention. Hey, sometimes you take an assist from a professional comedy writer, especially one as accomplished as he is.]
Scully is a television writer and producer perhaps best known as the showrunner for The Simpsons Seasons 9 through 12. Since then he’s had stints producing and writing for shows including Everybody Loves Raymond, Parks and Recreation, and The New Normal, where he’s currently a co-executive producer.
Scully’s won 6 Emmys, [...]
Contrary to what you might think, it takes a lot of talent to portray idiocy. It takes genius to do so week in and week out on one of the funniest shows on TV. The guys behind Workaholics, a team of four best friends, created, write, direct, produce, and star in the hit show on Comedy Central which is returning tonight for the second half of its third season. The show has just been picked up for a 4th and 5th season, so expect the idiocy to continue for quite some time. Here, we sit down with the gang and talk to them about their history, the show, and [...]
Jim Jefferies has a lot of experience playing a version of himself; his standup specials are filled with real life stories of fights, drugs and sex toys. In his new show Legit, premiering Thursday on FX, he again appears as version of himself, a foulmouthed Australian comic trying to make it in Los Angeles.
The show's pilot is also based on a true story, in which Jefferies accompanies a severely disabled friend to a brothel to lose his virginity. In his real life, Jefferies adventures now are more likely to focus on his two-month old son, who he was patiently trying to calm during our recent phone interview, as we talked about [...]
Since its debut two years ago, Portlandia has steadily evolved from a quirky takedown of hipster stereotypes to an award-winning hit series that made "Put A Bird On It" part of our national lexicon. Such a combination of street and suit cred ensures a bevy of star cameos in season 3, and tonight's double-episode premiere "Take Back MTV" and "Missionaries" includes guest appearances by Kurt Loder, Tabitha Soren, Matt Pinfield, Chloë Sevigny, and everyone's favorite mayor Kyle MacLachlan. I recently spoke with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein about writing the newest season, collaborating with their long list of guest stars, and the most "Portlandy" US cities that aren't [...]
Lost Roles is a weekly column exploring “what might have been” in movie and TV comedy as we take a different actor, writer, or comedian each week and examine the parts they turned down, wanted but didn't get, and the projects that fell apart altogether. This week, I interviewed Stephen Tobolowksy, beloved character actor, author, and podcaster. Tobolowsky has played hundreds of parts in movies and TV over the years, but you may know him best as Bill Murray's irritating high school acquaintance Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day, amnesiac Sammy Jankis from Memento, or from his recent TV work in recurring roles on Glee, Heroes, [...]
