Comedy
Chappelle’s Show Coming to Netflix
Netflix has acquired the streaming rights to Dave Chappelle’s brilliant early aughts sketch comedy series Chappelle’s Show. The show’s full three-season, 28-episode run will be available on the streaming platform beginning November 1st. Chappelle’s Show famously aired for three seasons between 2003 and 2006 on Comedy Central, and is widely considered to be one of the best comedies of its time. However, mid-way through the show’s third season, Chappelle abruptly walked away. He later stated that he was “burned out” from the intensive shooting schedule, and also felt the show’s popularity took away from his standup career (he could only take hearing an audience member yell “I’m Rick James, bitch!” so many times.) He then embarked on a prolonged hiatus, during which he only gav...
Chappelle’s Show, Nathan For You, Reno 911!, and Key & Peele Coming to HBO Max
Several of Comedy Central’s premiere titles — including Chappelle’s Show, Nathan For You, Reno 911!, and Key & Peele — are coming to HBO Max starting November 1st. These series will be streaming on WarnerMedia’s premium streaming services as part of an ongoing licensing deal forged with Comedy Central’s parent company ViacomCBS. The deal also gives HBO Max access to the entire South Park library as well as Inside Amy Schumer. It’s worth noting that all of these titles will be non-exclusive to HBO Max, which explains why Chappelle’s Show is also coming to Netflix starting November 1st. These titles are also available on ViacomCBS’s own streaming platform, CBS All Access, which will be rebranded as Paramount+ in 2021. According to The Hollywood Reporter, at some point ViacomCBS inte...
Eva Longoria joins as co-lead on digital detox comedy ‘Unplugging’
Eva Longoria has joined previously announced Matt Walsh on the in-production digital detox comedy Unplugging, which is currently in production in Oklahoma. Lea Thompson, Keith David, Nicole Byer and Al Madrigal have also come aboard editor Debra Neil-Fisher’s (Ted, The Hangover movies) feature directorial debut. Radiant Films International handles international sales heading into AFM 2020 Online. Walsh co-wrote the script with Brad Morris about a couple (Walsh and Longoria) who head to a remote town for a digital detox where they rekindle their love after a series of escapades. Filming is underway using in Tulsa, Oklahoma, using Covid-safe protocols. Production had originally been planned for Los Angeles and the production shifted amid the pandemic. The production has commandeered entire f...
Mel Brooks Revisits The Twelve Chairs for Its 50th Anniversary: “It’s One of My Top Favorites”
Comedy and music go hand in hand. Always. Mel Brooks knows how essential this is. He used to be a drummer, after all. Back in his teenage years, he was a student of the great drummer Buddy Rich. There’s a fundamental rhythm to comedy that oftentimes gets overlooked. If the timing of the musicality is off, then the comedy falls flat. That’s why, in so many of Brooks’ films, you will see elements of music. Whether the characters themselves are breaking out into song, or he has composed a title song, or the dialogue itself is particularly snappy and hits you over the head before you even realize what the hell just happened, it’s all in the same family. You cannot have good comedy without some form of music being present. That’s why Mel Brooks is, in some ways, as much a musician as he is a co...
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Lampoons an America Almost Too Ugly for Laughs: Review
The Pitch: Sacha Baron Cohen’s trojan horse/folk hero Borat Sagdiyev returns to America. Is nice. After disgracing his native Kazakhstan as the result of his successful 2006 motion picture, the once-famous journalist is asked to curry favor with President McDonald Trump’s good friend, United States Vice President Mike Pence (“Michael Pennis”) in the form of a gift: an animal. Borat must give Johnny the Monkey, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture and No. 1 porn star, to Pence. But there’s a snag. Inside Johnny’s crate is a stowaway named Tutar (Maria Bakalova), Borat’s 15-year-old daughter. Borat decides to offer his daughter to Pennis instead, a notorious “pussy hound” who can’t even be in the same room as women. When the plan fails — and we can explain why in a moment — Borat and Tutar, with...
Borat Puts Jimmy Kimmel and His “Rear Hole” Through the Ringer: Watch
Famed Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev presents his latest moviefilm this Friday, October 23rd. In anticipation, Borat appeared alongside his daughter, Sandra Jessica Parker Sagdiyev, on Monday night’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live. However, before Borat could proceed with the interview, he first needed to ensure that the “coward” virus had not already infected Kimmel’s studio. After smashing the virus with a large cooking plan, Borat then turned his focus to Kimmel himself. “I do not feel comfortable starting this interview until I have done basic questionnaire to make sure you are safe.” Questions included: “In the last week, have you been in the presence for more than 15 minutes of any Jews?”, “As member of Hollywood elite, have you recently drunk any unpasteurized children’s blood?”, Wh...
Should SNL Replace Jim Carrey as Joe Biden?
What was big, exciting entertainment news just a month or so ago has already become routine tedium: Jim Carrey played presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live. For the third week in a row, the blockbuster comic returned to Studio 8H, where Issa-Rae hosted the festivities. Three sketches into his run, however, and it’s hard to find anyone who appears to be enjoying his antics. (Then again, social media presents a comically skewed demographic of people who more or less despise Saturday Night Live, but feel compelled to provide running commentary anyway. Come to think of it, that’s likely how a lot of SNL writers probably feel about the presidential election.) This week’s endless cold open–under 15 minutes, but, as with last week’s, feeling closer to a full hour–toggled between...
Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America Emigrates to Amazon Prime for Christmas Release
Perhaps movie theaters in the Kingdom of Zamunda are open, but here in the States things are looking bleak. The lack of cinematic release options is the main reason why Eddie Murphy‘s new film Coming 2 America is emigrating from Paramount Pictures to Amazon Studios. The sequel to 1988’s Coming to America was originally slated to drop on August 7th, 2020, before going on standby until Christmas. Then the coronavirus happened, and blockbusters such as James Bond’s No Time to Die and Dune were pushed back to 2021. But Crown Prince Akeem Joffer won’t have to wait that long; as Variety reports, Amazon ponied up $125 million for the streaming rights. Now, Coming 2 America is expected to premiere on December 18th. Some details are still bein...
R.I.P. Conchata Ferrell, Two and a Half Men Co-Star Dies at 77
Conchata Ferrell, the veteran actress best known for her Emmy Award-nominated roles in Two and a Half Men and L.A. Law, has died at the age of 77. According to Deadline, Ferrell passed away Monday (October 12th) due to complications from a cardiac arrest. Ferrell portrayed Berta the Housekeeper on Two and a Half Men, appearing in a total of 212 episodes between 2003 and 2015. She was twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Support Actress — Comedy category. Prior to that, Ferrell received recognition for her recurring role as Attorney Susan Bloom on the sixth season of L.A. Law, which earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama. Ferrell’s other notable television credits included Good Times, E/R, Grace and Frankie, and Buffy the Vampi...
SNL Still Isn’t Sure How to Satirize Wokeness
When Saturday Night Live has a genuine stand-up comedian as a host, it can shift the whole structure of the show, which is what happened last week, with Chris Rock, and this week, with less famous comedian Bill Burr. Combined with the season’s endless debate sketches, a longer stand-up-based monologue can reduce the amount of airtime available for actual sketches. Unlike Rock’s gig, the Burr-hosted episode seemed to take some of its cues from Burr’s stand-up material — and with so few sketches making it to air, it only takes a few with common ground to make an episode feel more thematically unified than usual. In his monologue, Burr poked fun at notions of wokeness and allyship, making his case that white women have hijacked national conversations about equality and that a longer, warmer g...
The Jerky Boys Share Prank Call from First New Album in Over 20 Years: Stream
Way back in March of last year, Johnny Brennan confirmed he was working on the first new album from The Jerky Boys in two decades. Now, he’s confirmed its imminent release and shared the first prank call from the comedy collection. The self-titled LP is set for release on November 27th, Black Friday, via Comedy Dynamics. Available exclusively on streaming services, the album will see the return of many of Brennan’s classic characters, including Frank Rizzo, Jack Tors, Mike Derucki, and Sol Rosenberg. In the first clip from the effort (via Rolling Stone), good ol’ Sol dials up the iRobot customer service line with a uniquely deadly issue. “I duct-taped a very sharp knife to the iRobot and he’s outside the bathroom door now,” complains Sol (the basis for the Family Guy character Mort Goldman...
Father of the Bride Cast to Reunite for Netflix “Sequel”
Get ready to spend the weekend with the Banks. On Friday, Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube will host a reunion with the cast of Father of the Bride for a special charity event to benefit World Central Kitchen. In anticipation, they’ve dropped two teaser trailers that suggest we’re in for a very fun and very crowded video call. How crowded? Well, according to the credits in the second trailer, we’ll be seeing Steve Martin, aka George Banks; Diane Keaton, aka Nina Banks; Kimberly Williams-Paisley, aka Annie Banks-MacKenzie; Kieran Culkin, aka Matty Banks; George Newbern, aka Bryan MacKenzie; and, yes, Martin Short, aka Franck Eggelhoffer. As for the occasion, it’s possible we’ll be seeing Father of the Groom. In the first teaser, we see George (Martin) sorting through his e-mail — gotta love t...
