Thursday, November 30, 2006

Jack Black and Michael Cera Latest on Web TV Bandwagon



Today there are two new pieces of news from the "you can pretty much cancel your cable and Tivo" department. Michael Cera, best known as George Michael Bluth on the lamented Arrested Development, has signed on with CBS to bring a new Web series called The Good Life to their online station Innertube. Cera and writing/acting partner Clark Duke, who also perform in the band The Long Goodbye, have been posting low-budget videos via YouTube on their MySpace Film page, which apparently grabbed the attention of the network, who has ordered eight episodes of the mockumentary about two TV producers who begin prematurely living it up like fat cats before they've actually sold their TV show, or to paraphrase Cera's ex-narrator Ron Howard, spending money they haven't yet earned from jobs they don't yet have.

Meanwhile, Jack Black is teaming up with Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, creators of Scud: The Disposable Assassin and Monster House, to bring a new viewer's choice show to VH1 and VH1.com, based on Schrab and Harmon's innovative Channel 101. Just like that "channel," The Department of Acceptable Media Presents: Acceptable TV will feature an ever-expanding array of short TV pilots created by Black, Schrab, and Harmon, and amateur Internet filmmakers. The best pilots will be compiled on each Acceptable episode, and viewers can vote online for which shows should get followup episodes. All of the pilots, accepted or not, will be on display at VH1.com.

Office Reunion Party Tonight With Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant



Tonight's episode of NBC's The Office is written by original creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. This is only a behind-the-scenes return, separate from the recent rumor that the original cast will be showing up in a future episode to interact with their American counterparts.

If you normally avoid watching rip-off television, tonight should probably be an exception. Also keep in mind that NBC now hosts recent episodes of their hit series on their website where you can view it at your leisure.

In addition to working with Merchant on their new show Extras, as well as a series of podcasts, Gervais will also be appearing this Christmas in the family comedy Night at the Museum, and also has a new live act in the works called Fame. He can also be seen on screens now (albeit briefly) in For Your Consideration. Visit his official site for more info.

The first season of Extras, which features some pretty amazing cameo appearances from Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, and Patrick Stewart, will be released on January 9th and can be pre-ordered here: Extras - The Complete First Season

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Matt Besser Travels Countryside With Pig



Upright Citizens Brigade's Matt Besser is taking to the streets with his one-man war on religion, usually called Woo Pig Sooie but occasionally known as God vs. Matt Besser, the Bible Belch, and RU There, Jason Kidd? It's Me, Matt Besser. If you live in the Northeast, then try to make it to one of these shows.

Dec. 6th - Red Square - Albany, NY
Dec. 7th - Iron Horse - Northampton, MA
Dec. 8th - Univ. of New Hampshire
Dec. 10th - Great Scott - Boston

Besser recently finished filming a role in the zombie Western comedy Wanted: Undead or Alive, and is currently working on a pilot with TBS, as well as a deal to put tapings of the UCB's outstanding live improv show Assscat on DVD.

Chevy Chase: First Farms, Now Money



Chevy Chase, a man in serious danger of no longer being "a man who needs no introduction," will return to theater screens on January 19th in ThinkFilm's Funny Money, the second of his films to promise laughs to an incredulous viewing public by putting "funny" in the title itself. Chase plays a "mild-mannered" accountant who accidentally ends up with a briefcase stashed with money, and takes his wife on the run from the police and the briefcase's rightful owner. The film also stars Penelope Ann Miller, Armand Assante, Robert Loggia, and the always welcome Christopher McDonald.

Chase is overdue for a career resurgence after a series of obscure flops such as Vacuums, Bad Meat, Ellie Parker, and the almost whimsically terrible Karate Dog, but not a lot of confidence is instilled by director Leslie Greif's previous work, which includes the Walker Texas Ranger TV movie Trial By Fire. It's also being "cross-promoted" by a time-share company, so you may have to stay in your seat after the movie for a brief pitch seminar.

There's also the very unfunny trailer at movie's official site, which also features a poster that blatantly rips off Fun With Dick and Jane's, which was a terrible poster to begin with.

If you want to be reminded of a time when Chevy Chase was funny, the first season set of Saturday Night Live is only a week away and can be pre-ordered here: Saturday Night Live - The Complete First Season

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NBC Sold By Traveling Salesman



You can bet that after the success of Borat, "semi-documentary" will be the new trend in Hollywood, and this may be the first sign. NBC is eyeing Traveling Salesman, a single-camera comedy from Jared Stern, who made the news last year as the guy whose Toy Story 3 pitch was given the go ahead, back when Disney was planning on making the project without Pixar. Salesman would follow a door-to-door salesman in both his family life and on the road, the latter of which would involve unscripted, real-life sidewalk-hitting with targets who aren't in on the joke, using a hidden camera.

It unfortunately has nothing to do with the traveling salesman from "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," pictured above, but the Comedyblog couldn't find a relevant picture.

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Pineapple Goes Green



David Gordon Green has signed on to direct the previously announced comedy The Pineapple Express, the latest in a series of upcoming projects from producer Judd Apatow and writer/star Seth Rogen. The pair first worked together on Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and Apatow continued to cast Rogen in his first directorial film projects The 40-Year-Old Virgin and next year's Knocked Up. Somewhere along the way Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg started passing their own scripts to Apatow, who's been setting them up in front of the camera one by one (the other two films are Super Bad starring Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, and Drillbit Taylor starring Owen Wilson.)

The Pineapple Express is a druggie comedy that reunites Apatow and Rogen with their Geeks co-star James Franco. Filming is scheduled to begin in early 2007.

David Gordon Green has generated a lot of underground buzz over the last few years for his quiet, personal projects George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Undertow. He's no stranger to comedy though, as he frequently announces that his dream project is a beyond politically incorrect film called Me Chinese.

He's also been tagged for a long time as the writer-director of the film adaptation of A Confederacy of Dunces, which was already set up with Will Ferrell and a supposedly remarkable script before money troubles (along with the flooding of the novel's setting) sent the project into turnaround. Maybe the best news of the week is that this new Variety article claims the film is still happening.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Animation Show Lineup



The Animation Show, a traveling festival of non-mainstream cartoons curated by Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt, have announced a partial lineup for the event's third year. The shorts include Run Wrake's Rabbit music video, a twisted take on the Dick and Jane storybook style, and the offbeat, Academy Award-nominated 9, a masterpiece of CGI design that is being developed into a feature film by director Shane Acker and producer Tim Burton.

Hertzfeldt will also contribute his own exclusive new short, the 17-minute Everything Will Be OK, pictured above.

In previous years, the program has showcased exclusive and/or rare material from the likes of Judge and Bill Plympton. The concept is to give people a chance to see these films in a theater where they belong, but they have compiled some of their favorites on DVD for people who were unfortunately cursed with small town life. You can get the Volume 1 and 2 box set here: The Animation Show (Vol. 1 & 2 Boxed Set)

For more films, information, and dates, visit the Animation Show website.

Speaking of Awards...



The Indie Spirit Award nominees have been announced, and the Comedyblog is here to pick out the comedies, because that's what the Comedyblog does. Little Miss Sunshine leads the pack with five nominations for Best Feature, Best Director, Best First Screenplay, and double noms for Alan Arkin and Paul Dano for Best Supporting Male. The charming-looking The Motel (trailer) and the darkly funny Afterlife fable Wristcutters: A Love Story are both up for First Time Feature for directors Michael Kang and Goran Dukic, the latter of which is also up for Best First Screenplay along with Gabrielle Zevin for the Aaron Eckhart/Helena Bonham Carter rom-com Conversations With Other Women. The late Robert Altman is up for a posthumous Best Director award for A Prairie Home Companion. Nicole Holfcener and Jason Reitman are up for Best Screenplay for Friends With Money and Thank You For Smoking, respectively. Smoking lead Eckhart is also up for Best Male Lead, with Catherine O'Hara taking a matching Best Female Lead nom for For Your Consideration, which is a rather amusing choice given that film's subject matter. Frances McDormand grabs a Best Supporting Female for Friends With Money.

You can see the whole list here. The Spirit Awards will air live on IFC on Saturday, February 24, hosted by Sarah Silverman.

Destined for Goldie?



Several of the year's more popular comedies have been tipped as likely nominees for the Academy Awards, especially in the screenplay competitions, which are typically used to give attention to cult favorites that the Academy doesn't consider refined enough to compete in the bigger categories. This year the hopefuls include Michael Arndt's Little Miss Sunshine, Zach Helm's Stranger Than Fiction, and Jason Reitman's adaptation of Thank You For Smoking. Nominations will be announced January 31st at 5am. Who's got a shot for a nom or a win? Are there any unsung heroes you think deserve attention? Does anyone care about these statues anymore? Discuss below.

Mario, the Green Goblin, and Pvt. Joker Form Supergroup



In a casting move that seems to have been informed by some film student's top ten list of Hollywood's most underrated actors, the stellar trio of Bob Hoskins, Willem Dafoe, and Mathhew Modine have signed on to Abel Ferrara's "screwball comedy" Go Go Tales, which has just begun filming. Modine will be playing a strip club owner in Manhattan, with Hoskins as his accountant. No word on Dafoe's character, but he will most likely be playing someone unstable or creepy, or both.

"Screwball" is by far a new arena for Ferrara, whose previous films include the infamously gritty Bad Lieutenant, the Christopher Walken actioner King of New York, and the Ice T holiday drama 'R Xmas.

Tales will also reportedly star recent blog queen Asia Argento and the very angry supermodel Naomi Campbell.

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Anna Faris To Attempt Time Travel Comedy Without Keanu Reeves



Anna Faris will star in BBC's sci-fi comedy Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, which will begin shooting next week with a predominantly British cast under the direction of Britcom vet Gareth Carrivick ("French and Saunders," "Little Britain"). The plot concerns three men in a pub dealing with the confusing repercussions of navigating the fourth dimension.

First-time writer Jamie Mathieson has been documenting the film's progress on his blog, and will hopefully post an update soon explaining how Faris is either "totally a bitch" or "as sweet as sweet can be - and modest to boot!"

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Monday, November 27, 2006

New Talent Gains Approval of Dead Comedian

Musician and comedian Reggie Watts has snagged the third annual Andy Kaufman Award (did anyone know such a thing existed?) as part of a New York Comedy Festival showcase. The contest, whose judges includes Kaufman's father Stanley and his manager George Shapiro, featured unorthodox alternative comedians seemingly carrying on Kaufman's spirit. Watts won the judges over with his largely musical act (Watts is a member of the music group Maktub), using a sampler to create on-the-spot comedy songs out of his own beatboxing skills. Watts is currently developing a comedic travel show for Turner Broadband called "Zipcode," and is also developing a web show for Comedy Central's online network, Motherload.

Other performers at the event included second place winner Ken Barnard and the rather fascinating looking Red Bastard, but neither of their websites feature any clips and appear to have been made in 1997.

Comedyblog favorite Charlyne Yi, soon to be seen in the new Judd Apatow film Knocked Up, was also in the mix, at one point attempting to use $125 to bribe any audience member to punch her in the face, which is about as Kaufmanesque as it gets.

Please support these up-and-coming talents by visiting their respective websites and finding out how to see them live in your hip college town.

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

New Adult Swim Shows in Development


The ever-expanding Adult Swim program block is continuing to throw new shows on the pile. In addition to recently announced pilots for Tony Millionaire's Drinky Crow, Evan Dorkin's Tyrone's Inferno, an untitled new series from the creators of Harvey Birdman, and a series called Super Jail from the creators of the short film Barfight, Cartoon Network has now announced three more.
Gemberling is based on a live-action web series of the same name by the Cowboy & John comedy team, whose website hosts 8 episodes of the cyberspace adventure, which involves a douchey computer programmer accidentally being sucked into an Internet war. It also features Human Giant's Rob Huebel in a supporting role. No word on whether the show will be switched over to an animated format or stay the way it is, but anything is possible now that Cartoon Network is airing Men in Black on a regular basis.
The other two shows are called Let's Fish and Western Times. There is no information on either of them at this time, and they may in fact be a product of Wikipedia's imagination.
In other Adult Swim news, they are currently airing new episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, 12 oz. Mouse, Squidbillies, Metalocalypse, Moral Orel, and the brand new shows Frisky Dingo (from the creators of Sealab 2021) and Assy McGee (from Jon "Coach McGuirk" Benjamin). New episodes of The Boondocks, Perfect Hair Forever, Harvey Birdman, and Robot Chicken are coming in 2007, and a third season of Venture Bros. will most likely be announced soon. Lucy: Daughter of the Devil, Saul of the Mole Men, and The Tim and Eric Show, Great Job! have been greenlit for first seasons that will begin soon. Korgoth of Barbaria had damn well better get picked up as well.
In case you didn't know, you can watch all these fine programs for free on the Adult Swim Fix at adultswim.com.

Tenacious D - What Went Wrong?


The long-in-the-making, widely anticipated Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is projected to have only taken in $5.4 million in its extra-long Thanksgiving weekend release, barely making 10th place, and it's currently holding a not so solid 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, which officially means 52 audience members have been driven to throw squishy green fruit at the screen while it was playing. Is the duo out of juice? Was it marketed incorrectly? Does America just not get it? In your opinion, what went wrong?

Super Two-pers Run Green Light?


According to MTV, the Broken Lizard troupe may start filming the anticipated sequel to their cult 2001 hit Super Troopers next summer. Previously, the comedy group was waffling back and forth on whether or not to go forward with the follow-up, even asking their online fans to gauge their interest level.
The story being bandied about by the Lizards since August has been that the new film will be set in 1976, and the team will play the fathers of original characters Farva, Thorny, Rabbit, Mac, and Foster, with "bigger moustaches and hot rods." But in this new interview, Steve Lemme says that's just one of the options they're looking at, and may in fact do a traditional sequel "picking up where the last one left off."
No word on whether this will push back the seemingly doomed BL project The Greek Road, which would feature the members playing both gods and mortals in ancient Greece.