Cable network Adult Swim unveiled a roster of new shows, specials and pilots this morning. Most notable are Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's new animated series Rick and Morty, which was announced previously and is expected to premiere sometime in 2014; Paul Scheer's high school drama parody pilot Filthy Sexy Teen$, which he co-created with NTSF:SD:SUV cohorts Jonathan Stern and Curtis Gwinn; and Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories, a pilot for an anthology series from duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim that features Zach Galifianakis in the pilot.
See below for the full slate of programming announced today, which also includes frat guy ghosts, satanic dogs, and new specials from [...]
Trapped and forever stuck with people who annoy you. Trying to entertain one’s self, it’s futile. Never learning a lesson. Repetition. Mundanity. Futility. Guns and poo jokes. These are common elements in much of the content on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, the network’s popular late-night programming that features both cartoon and real-action sketch comedy. They are also basic elements of Samuel Beckett’s work. And while irritation with idiots around you, stupidity and poo jokes have been staples of comedy for years, it is specifically by examining ennui and using absurdity as tool to comment on the human condition that Beckett has influenced modern comedy. This can be seen in [...]
Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie showed at Sundance last week, and it looks like it was not universally beloved. About a third of the audience walked out, turned off by the film's "bloodshed, sadistic bathroom humor, and heavy-duty nincompoopery." (Nincompoopery. I would stay in a theater just to hear someone say "nincompoopery" over and over.) "The movie is not for everyone. But there is a part of us that is like, 'Yes!' if it moves people to yell at it or get out. That's great," Wareheim said. The movie's March 2 release date is approaching, so get your walking/yelling/laughing shoes on. (Probably your regular shoes will be [...]
Here's how Eric Wareheim describes his and Tim Heidecker's sense of humor in this article: “Awkward moments are…very much our thing." (I would guess that that ellipsis likely represents about 45 seconds to a minute of silence.) The pair, plus their Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie costar Will Forte, also discuss their penchant for post-production "glitch-outs" and their role in producing Scott Aukerman's Comedy Bang! Bang! show on IFC. And how hot turtlenecks are in Palm Springs. Art is suffering, as they say.
There is a very fine line between comedy and tragedy. Like sleep and death, laughter and crying are cousins. However, deep sadness isn’t always easy to show in television comedy; there’s only so much a non-sociopathic audience can see one character take before all the pain stops being funny. Sometimes, though, the schadenfreude can’t be resisted. These ten characters have been shit on, humiliated, and abused over and over again, but we can’t stop laughing at them. How else would we be able to tell ourselves it isn’t so bad?
