Night of 1000 Pilots

If you've like us, you've probably been wondering what the hell's going on with the multitude of long-gestating new Adult Swim shows, some of which were announced over a year ago. This weekend, they solve the problem once and for all by simply throwing up the whole batch. Six premiere episodes are online now, and will hit Cartoon Network in the upcoming regular Sunday night block. Make sure to cast your vote online to help along your favorites, or to put your enemies out of a job.

Included this adult-friendly baby shower are the superbly drawn Superjail, featuring the voice of David Wain as a Wonka-like warden of an unofficial, malevolent fantasy prison, Tony Millionaire's gloriously pessimistic comic-strip spin-off The Drinky Crow Show, featuring Mad TV and Office Space star David Herman and voice-over extraordinaire Billy West, David Banner's rap-happy tribute to Southern Gothic weirdness That Crook'd Sipp, the ripped-from-the-web Reboot knock-off Fat Guy Stuck in the Internet, and the iffy live/animation hybrid Let's Fish, starring 30 Rock's Scott Adsit and Brendon "Dethklok" Small. There's also a painstaking, sepiatoned short documentary about the voice of Space Ghost, George Lowe, which seems to only be included to hit an even six.

Fat Guy and Superjail have supposedly already been picked up for series, along with the upcoming Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, which aired its pilot early last year. Korgoth of Barbaria is still hanging in limbo. The non-inclusion of other rumored pilots like Western Times and Evan Dorkin's Tyrone's Inferno probably means they're dead and buried. Pour a little out for them, Drinky.

Slow News Day: Professor Jables, Weeklong Swim, No-Name Nowhere Director

ITEM: Jack Black and the Acceptable TV crew have added more hilarious amateur filmmaking tutorials to their website, concluding with a depressing guide to rejection, complete with Heat Vision and Jack reference. By the way, if you haven't been watching Acceptable TV, you should really get started.

ITEM: Adult Swim is expanding to a full week of 11-6 programming, which will make room for more new shows like the previously reported Fat Guy Stuck in Internet (formerly known as Gemberling), a full season of Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, and the long-developing Superjail. Meanwhile, the second seasons of The Boondocks and Metalocalypse are coming this summer, and new episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, and (if finished in time) Venture Bros. this fall.

ITEM: Karey Kirkpatrick has signed on to direct Eddie Murphy in the promising-without-Eddie-Murphy Ed Solomon/Chris Matheson script NowhereLand. Kirkpatrick is probably best known for butchering the script to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but he also penned the super-affable Chicken Run, and his offbeat cereal-themed directorial debut Flakes is getting pretty good notices in its current festival run, so let's say his involvement pushes NowhereLand further towards the "yes" end of "maybe."

Slow News Day: The Award for Best Girlfriend Goes to Detective Robot

ITEM: The MTV Movie Awards have snagged Sarah Silverman to host the June 3rd event, which will surely give Stomp the Yard the Best Booty-Shakin' Award it so richly deserves. Meanwhile, the ceremony has jumped on the viral video scene (who hasn't?) by letting viewers contribute their own short comedy films for the Best Movie Spoof category.

ITEM: Rainn Wilson will star in The Girlfriend Experience, based on his own idea about a lovelorn nerd who hires a hooker to play his girlfriend, an idea hundreds of respectable comedy writers have surely thought up and rejected. Nevertheless, there's some very small hope in the fact that Ivan Reitman is producing the film, and screenwriters Mark and Brian Gunn created the moderately amusing boy band spoof 2gether and were deemed worthy enough to write the upcoming juvey comedy Juvenile for Steve Carell (as well as the less promising Mighty Mouse revamp). In case you were wondering, they're cousins of James "Mrs. Jenna Fischer" Gunn.

ITEM: Broken Lizard's Paul Soter recently branched off to make Watching the Detectives, a noirish anti-rom-com starring Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu, and also featuring Jason Sudeikis, Human Giant's Paul Scheer, and Josh "the only good part of Year of the Dog not named Reilly" Pais. The movie premieres next week at the Tribeca Film Festival, and ComingSoon.net grabbed an interview and a trio of awkwardly funny clips.

ITEM: Seth Green and his Stoopid Monkey pals have managed to coerce Lucasfilm into letting them to a half-hour Star Wars special, which will still feature an array of short, hit-and-miss clips, only all under the umbrella of the sci-fi universe. They've even got George Lucas on board to drop some nasal voiceover action, as well as the less surprising Mark Hamill, who already works on Metalocalypse and has always been quick to mock himself. Plus you've got some Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, Seth Macfarlane, Malcolm McDowell, and even Hulk Hogan. Robot Chicken: Star Wars airs June 17.

Interview Roundup

The last few news days have been too slow even for our Slow News Day department. The Coen Bros. and George Clooney have announced new dark comedies with little in the way of plot or cast, Les Claypool's Electric Apricot, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show, and a few other long-wrapped features were picked up for distribution, the Simpsons are getting their own damn ride, and that's been about it. All the comedy mainstays must be out promoting their current projects instead of making new ones, so why not check out this bevy of recent interviews?



The AV Club talks to Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, keepers of last weekend's biggest per-screen box office numbers, about 138 different cop movies and how to act like a monkey.

Michael Showalter has an awkward phone call with Human Giant.

CHUD talks to Paul Rudd and Ken Marino about those pesky State DVDs and imaginary comedy battles.

The AV Club talks to Master Shake, Frylock, Meatwad, and Carl about peanut butter, mimes, and condoms.

People asks Adam McKay how to get your daughter to curse like a sailor, and then has a brief e-mail dialogue with the Landlord herself.

Gothamist talks to Jon Benjamin about his new Super Deluxe cartoon, his formative years, and "fuck powder."

Slow News Day: Apatow Appoints M.C. D.A., Ferrell Orders HBO, Starship Lands Friedlander, Birdman Takes a Bow

ITEM: David Krumholtz, a nice-guy character actor frequently utilized by Ed Burns and Judd Apatow, is following Jason Segel's plan and writing himself his own movie for generous Judd's Apatow Productions. Attorneys at Raw follows two lawyers who decide to become rappers. Here's hoping Judd keeps a close watch on that dumb-ass plot. Meanwhile, Krumholtz has been cast in the other, more foolproof musical Apatow comedy Walk Hard.

ITEM: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's previously announced pilot, P.E., has been picked up for series by HBO, and simultaneously stripped down to untitled status. The show follows a former athlete lowered to coaching high school gym. Ferrell is expected to make frequent guest appearances, but the show is otherwise officially uncast.

ITEM: Judah Friedlander, best known for nerding it up in American Splendor and 30 Rock, has joined the cast of the still dubious Starship Dave, joining Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, and Ed Helms in the sci-fi comedy written by MST3K's Bill Corbett and directed by the man who brought you Norbit (and refuses to take it back).

ITEM: The third and final season of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law will hit DVD shelves on July 24, featuring deleted scenes and a digital comic book. We're not sure what a digital comic book is, either. If you're keeping score, this show's cancellation brings Adult Swim's surviving original lineup down to one.

Tim and Eric's Bogus Journey

Tim and Eric, creators and stars of Tom Goes to the Mayor and the new Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, are taking their act to the streets with an 8-date American tour, which will include "a 70-minute mix of live segments and video clips pulled mainly from their two Cartoon Network shows, video podcasts, and website." Check 'em out:

New York (February 26) – Knitting Factory
Philadelphia (February 27) – Franklin Institute
Chapel Hill (February 28) – Local 506
Atlanta (March 1) – Earl
Seattle (March 3) – Crocodile Café
Portland (March 4) - Someday Lounge
San Francisco (March 5) – Rickshaw Stop
Los Angeles (March 6) – Echo

The duo will also be appearing at the South by Southwest festival on March 17. If you don't live in any of these fine cities, do not start crying. The Atlanta show will be webcasted live on the Adult Swim site for all to enjoy.

Meanwhile, their new show is currently airing new episodes each Friday on adultswim.com and on Sunday on Cartoon Network. So far, the episodes have featured appearances John C. Reilly, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, and co-producer Bob Odenkirk, and future episodes have already tapes with the likes of David Cross, Fred Willard, Neil Hamburger, and "Weird Al" Yankovic. If you're not familiar with the program, allow this incoherant promo to explain it to you:

A Little More Crow Info

One of the more promising out of many recent pilots ordered by Adult Swim was Drinky Crow, based on a character from underground comic-book hero Tony Millionaire's Maakies strip, who also showed up in a series of Saturday Night Live shorts, and all over merchandise for They Might Be Giants. Millionaire recently updated his fans on the show's progress, saying the pilot is complete and may air as early as March, at which point Adult Swim will guage the public reaction with their own feelings, and decide whether or not to order a full run. The aforementioned Giants have recorded the theme song, and voice cast is rather excellent, featuring V.O. favorite Billy West in the titular role, plus Dave Herman (best known as Michael Bolton in Office Space and for his work on Mad TV) and Tom Kenny (best known from Mr. Show and...well, he's Spongebob). Not shabby, Mr. Millionaire! Not shabby at all.

Adult Swim has no new pilots or premieres listed on the schedule for now, but they presumably have That Crook'd Sip, Super Jail, I Know - Let's Blow Up the Moon, Gemberling, Western Times, and Let's Fish waiting in the wings, and possibly full-season pickups for the previously aired pilots Korgoth of Barbaria and Lucy: Daughter of the Devil.

Mythical Ancient Aqua Teen Trailer Tomb

The official teaser trailer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is now online. Between the title and the marketing materials, it's safe to say that someone at First Look Pictures is either extremely tolerant, or wants to lose their job, because this shit is beyond weird.

Check it out over at Worst Previews.

Look for Theaters in theaters this March.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Finally Assembled

Just days after rounding out the top five in the Comedyblog's 30 most anticipated comedies of 2007, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie has finally set a definite release through First Look Pictures, after many months of uncertainty and bogus announcements. The film will open this March in around 800 theaters, pretty standard for a limited release, and will obviously expand from there depending on its success. As previously announced, the film is written, directed, and produced by its long-time showrunners Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro, features all the show's regular voice talent, guest stars Bruce Campbell and Rush drummer Neil Peart, and involves the origin of the anthropomorphized food items and their involvement with an dangerous, immortal piece of exercise equipment.

The only thing still in need of clearing up is the film's title, which was originally announced as The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film For Theaters, later shorted to Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie, and now seems to be completely up in the air.

LINK

Fake Jam with Fake Bands

The follow-up to the axe-fantasy sensation Guitar Hero II is now in stores, and includes two bonus tracks that might be of interest to Comedyblog readers. The first is Strong Bad's "Trogdor," which can be seen in action here, here, and here.

The second is Metalocalypse stars Dethklok's "Thunderhorse," which can be seen here.

No word on whether Guitar Hero III will feature appearances by Spinal Tap, the Blues Brothers, the Rutles, Tenacious D, Wyld Stalyns, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Bad News, the Beets, the Folksmen, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the Fabulous Stains, Scäb, the Blowholes, 2gether, the Be Sharps, Gemini's Twin, Fingerbang, the Lone Rangers, the Original Way Outs, the Pinheads, Big Mountain Fudgecake, Creation, Foregone Conclusion, CB4, Dudez-a-Plenti, Shasta McNasty, the Horndogs, the Suburbans, Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld, Scrambled Debutante, the School of Rock or other fake bands.

Metalocalypse is now airing new episodes on Adult Swim, and creator Brendon Small has announced the band's plans to release an album next year.

The V in DVD

Creator and co-writer Jackson Publick has announced on his blog that the second season of Adult Swim's The Venture Bros. is tentatively scheduled to hit stores on April 17. The set will feature full episode commentary, exclusive live action material, and in the neighborhood of 30 (!) deleted scenes.

There has yet to be any official announcement from Cartoon Network on either this DVD or whether or not a third season will be greenlit, but fans can probably take it easy since the first season hit #1 on Amazon's sales chart when it was released earlier this year.

If you haven't been watching this show, then get the hell on the ball: The Venture Bros. - Season One

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.