Slow News Day: Fatty Black, Pregnant Poehler, Hawaiian Freak, Preview Pie

ITEM: Jack Black is the latest actor to join Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, playing an overweight comedian named "Fats." One can only hope the movie's other jokes play on a slightly higher level.

ITEM: Austin Powers scribe Michael McCullens will make his directing debut with Baby Mama, in which Tina Fey hires Amy Poehler as a baby surrogate to avoid taking maternity leave. Hopefully that promising casting can eclipse the dumb-ass title, not to mention the plot, which is not only bland and predictable, but also strangely similar to SNL co-star Will Forte's recently wrapped script for The Brothers Solomon.

ITEM: Jason Segel, still best known as the lovelorn drummer of Freaks and Geeks, has lined up his first leading film role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a romantic comedy about a guy who decides to get over his break-up blues with a Hawaiian vacation, only to find his ex traveling to the same island with her new beau. Kristin Bell of Veronica Mars will play the titular role. How did Segel land the gig after years of wacky sidekick background acting? Well, he wrote it himself.

ITEM: The anticipated dramedy Waitress, written and directed by the late Hal Hartley protege Adrienne Shelly, finally has a trailer up. Unfortunately, it looks like an obnoxious, cutesy retread of every other uber-Southern indie flick you've ever seen, but will hopefully be saved by the comic talents of Nathan Fillion and Cheryl Hines.

This Week in Funny 1/22/07 - 1/28/07

Tuesday, January 23:



New on DVD: The Puffy Chair (click here to buy)
New on DVD: Relative Strangers with Ron Livingston (click here to buy)
New Campus Ladies: "The Last Supper" (Oxygen)
Ricky Gervais on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)
Louis CK on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (Repeat) (CBS)

Wednesday, January 24:

New The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show: "Key to the City" (Comedy Central)
Stephen Colbert and Rainn Wilson on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Repeat) (NBC)

Thursday, January 25:



Tina Fey guest-hosts The View (ABC)
Wanda Sykes on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC)
Kevin Smith on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Repeat) (NBC)

Friday, January 26:

New in Theaters: Smokin' Aces
New Monk: "Mr. Monk Is At Your Service" (USA)
New Psych: "From the Earth to the Starbucks" (USA)
Bob Saget on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC)
Will Ferrell on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Repeat) (NBC)

Sunday, January 28:



New Extras: Episode 2.3 with Daniel Radcliffe (HBO)
New The Simpsons: "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times" (FOX)
Season Premiere King of the Hill: "The Peggy Horror Picture Show" (FOX)
New Family Guy: "Road to Rupert" (FOX)
New American Dad: "American Dream Factory" (FOX)

Live Comedy Watch:



1/22: Michael Showalter at the UCB Theater in NYC
1/22: Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, and Doug Benson at the UCB Theater in LA
1/23: Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman at the UCB Theater in LA
1/24: Zach Galfianakis at the UCB Theater in LA
1/25: Nick Swardson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Marc Maron at the UCB Theater in LA
1/25: Jim Gaffigan at the Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, IN
1/26: Jerry Seinfeld at the Wharton Center in East Lansing, MI
1/26: Jim Gaffigan at the Victory Theatre in Evansville, IN
1/27: Fred Armisen at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA
1/27: Jim Gaffigan at the Lied Center of Kansas in Lawrence, KS
1/28: Jim Gaffigan at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids, IA
1/28: Free ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theater in NYC
1/28: Free ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theater in LA