The worst thing about Dave Chappelle leaving his hit Comedy Central show all those years ago, was that so much stuff has happened in the world, and Chappelle’s voice was sorely missed. I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear Chappelle during the 2008 election. I needed to hear Chappelle during the fiscal crisis, and the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin, and every other major American moment because Chappelle is the best American comedian. He is simply a gifted genius, and the fact that he has limited himself to unannounced random standup appearances, where he insists that no one film him, has left a gaping hole in the comedy world, and it makes videos like the ones I’m presenting below so vital, despite their less than stellar quality. In these clips, Chappelle is performing at the “Comedy Jam,” in California, and only being a few months old, it represents his most current standup. You’ll see a pumped up Chappelle take on Obama, living in Ohio, Osama Bin Ladin, racism, Kramer, and his real top secret reason for leaving the spotlight. It’s all quite hilarious and brilliant, and his timing is still razor sharp. It’s a real treat for all of Chappelle’s biggest fans. Enjoy.
So I was surfing the internet today, and I came across a brilliant little monolog that Louie C.K. did as a tribute to George Carlin. George Carlin died in 2008, and if you didn’t know, he’s probably the greatest and most influential standup comic next to Richard Pryor. He had an absolutely relentless ability to speak the truth in a hilarious and brilliant way. He was a genius who just took the art form of standup comedy its apex, which is basically standup philosophy. The first video is Louie C.K.’s tribute video to George that’s gonna convince you that watching the next four videos below is well worth your time. What are these videos? They are four incredible videos which contain George’s greatest moments in standup comedy. All I can say is that watching these clips is utterly thrilling and thought provoking, and will inspire you profoundly. George tackles politics, religion, the English language, the poor, class warfare, sports, the homeless, brainwashed populaces and much more. There is not much I can add to this, other than, watch. If you are just some random internet visitor who has never watched George Carlin, or have never heard of him, please, watch, now. It’s your duty as a human being. Oh, and I have one more autocratic order, please vote for me as CBS’s best local NYC blogger. The contest ends September 9th, so please click the link! Thanks, folks.
I’m getting pretty good at predicting trends. Just a few days ago I posted a series of Seinfeld trailers cobbled together by a brilliant internet guy, and today I have a new one from a different guy who imagines Jerry and George lost somewhere on Brokeback Mountain. His future film entitled, “Brokeback About Nothing,” is a passionate and serious look at the obvious chemistry between Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza and the consequences they face pursuing forbidden love. Of course there have been dozens of Brokeback parodies in the past, but this is the first Seinfeld one, and its just as funny because there is ample accidental moments to pull from. Anyway don’t feel bad if you enjoy this because after all, it’s not like there’s anything wrong with it.
Some of the best running gags on Seinfeld were the fake movies the gang was always seeing. Rochelle, Rochelle, Death Blow, Checkmate, and Sack Lunch all come to mind, but it all begs a larger question, what would a Seinfeld movie look like? Well, luckily some genius on the internet has no shortage of ideas. These really must be seen to believed, but I’m gonna present you my three favorite Seinfeld movies coming soon to a theater near you. The first is “Kramerica,” a tale of a country boy and cockeyed optimist, who gets caught up in a dirty game of worldwide diplomacy. The second is “The Real Peterman,” the tale of a rich playboy whose perfect life is about to come crashing down when the world learns his crushing secret, that he’s a fraud. The last flick is “Jerry the Great,” a story about an arrogant man’s rise to dark power, and the backstabbing betrayal he commits against his best friend. There are more trailers beyond these three, and they are surely worth seeking out as they will entertain Seinfeld fans to no end. Enjoy.
The trailer for “Bored to Death” season 3 just came out, and of course, its awesome. I have an incredibly soft spot for this show. For starters, I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the predominant location of the show’s adventures. Next, I love detective comedies, long story there. Lastly, the cast is brilliant and the show high brow and hilarious. That’s two or three things, but whose counting? Anyway, the season 3 trailer is just Ted, Jason, and Zach gallivanting around Coney Island to the Beastie Boys “Triple Trouble.” If this doesn’t make you happy, I want you to stop reading my site. Well…read my site less, or just read it the same amount, but respectfully disagree with me on the subject of liking this show. BORED TO DEATH!!!!
Youtube is kind of awful. I found some absolutely golden clips from “Seinfeld” that I’d love to post and do intensive analysis of, but nearly all of the clips are disabled for embedding. Luckily, I have found a few killer scenes that have escaped the clutches of the youtube machine for now. They’ll probably be taken down in the future, but I live for the moment. The first montage clip is my favorite. It’s the gang all dancing around to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” from Off the Wall. It’s short but sweet. The next clip is everybody making crazy noises, and the clip after that you see them in their craziest get ups. The last clip, the famous Superman montage, is a bonus that I’m linking off site to represent the both the tyranny and wonder of youtube. Enjoy.
I’m pretty sure this is from the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” pilot, but who cares where its from exactly, I’m not double checking Wikipedia. All you need to know is that its genius and hilarious. This is Larry returning to his roots, doing strait up stand up, and killing. He riffs on masturbation, blow jobs from Jews, Clinton, Hitler, Chinese men, answering machines, and Jack Kevorkian. It’s a brilliant montage of his best jokes, and it all ends on a joke that sums up his entire comedy philosophy. Just sit back, press play, prepare to laugh, and thank me later.
The “Seinfeld” obsession continues, this time with a great documentary on it’s unlikely creation and even more unlikely smash success. It’s a revealing 6 part look into how the show started off as a quirky experimental program whose premise was wrapping a sitcom around a standup comedians act. It was a totally novel creation springing from the minds of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. The documentary is great because you see the enormous strain and pressure Larry David was under in the creation of this thing countered with the unnatural calm and ease that Jerry Seinfeld exuded during the whole creation. The whole video series is great, a must for “Seinfeld” fans, which should just about include the entire human race. Sadly, Part 3 and 5 cannot be embedded! Stupid youtube censors. Don’t worry, I’ve provided links so you won’t miss out. Enjoy.
How about that keyboard reflecting in Ray Charles’s sunglasses? That’s rock and roll, or more specifically, the blues. This legendary scene, from the “Blues Brothers” movie, is and irreplaceable document of blues rock awesomeness. The Blues Brothers were a group formed by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, two SNL geniuses who loved the blues and came up with this brilliant concept for a Chicago based blues group. The dark suits, hats, and shades are icons of TV and movie magic. It’s just another example of the insane role that the likes of Aykroyd and Belushi were on in the late 70s/early 80s when it came to dominating the coolest ideas of global comedy. The original Blues Brothers band consists mostly of the first SNL band, and they really cook. It’s a reminder of how huge SNL was in the late 70s that even the band members got starring roles in a blockbuster feature film. The movie, directed by hot 80s director John Landis, is a crazy car crashing romp of great music and fantastic dance sequences, evidenced below. Check it out.
If you caught last Sunday’s episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Palestinian Chicken,” you know Larry David is on a hot streak. There are a lot of genius comics in the world right now, but Larry is going for the throne of world’s funniest man. I can’t get enough of Larry and the world of “Curb,” and because of my addiction, I found this awesome series of clips featuring Larry, Cheryl Hines, and Jeff Garlin talking about the creation and origins of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This is a long multi-video post, so be sure to click the more button so you don’t miss out on any videos.
VIDEO #1- Larry on the show’s creation. Here Larry talks about how he thought his return to standup would be stale, so he decided to wrap it around a clever little mockumentary idea.
VIDEO #2- Jeff Garlin, director and executive producer of the show, explains how Larry coaxed him into starring on the show as Larry’s agent. Read more »