Take Off Your Pants And Ride The Subway
Today is No Pants Subway Ride day, in New York City and around the world, wherever subway (underground) trains are to be found (all sorts of places, not just the obvious ones like London’s Tube and the Paris Metro). Started by comedy group Improv Everywhere, this is what it’s all about:
The No Pants Subway Ride is annual event staged by Improv Everywhere every January in New York City. The mission started as a small prank with seven guys and has grown into an international celebration of silliness, with dozens of cities around the world participating each year. The idea behind No Pants is simple: Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.
You can participate in the next edition, taking place this Sunday, January 8, 2012, around the world. [New York Details and Details for Other Cities]
A documentary about Improv Everywhere is currently raising funds on Kickstarter. Here’s the trailer showing how No Pants started:
Louis C.K. on George Carlin (Video)
A future master praising a past (and always remembered) master:
Afghanistan Getting Its Own Politically-Charged Version Of ‘The Office’ Sitcom
The Office was a hit in England before it became a hit in the States. With the mock-documentary, hand-cam style of filming, Afghanistan is now getting it’s own version entitled The Ministry. Daily Mail reports:
Rather than being set in a Slough paper manufacturing firm, ‘The Ministry’ is based in the war-torn country’s Ministry of Garbage. The mock-documentary has been filmed in exactly the same way as Ricky Gervais’ BBC comedy.
Footage of the characters addressing the camera directly, as if being interviewed, is interspersed with scenes of them apparently going about their working lives. The comedy, which will be broadcast on Afghanistan’s largest commercial television station Tolo TV later this year, features a sleazy manager, a dozy security guard and a man-hating female secretary.
Gilbert Gottfried Fired As Voice Of Aflac Duck Over Japan Jokes
CNN reports:
The Aflac duck lost its voice Monday after the insurance giant fired the comedian behind the commercial quack for tweeting jokes about the earthquake and tsunami that has devastated Japan.
The Columbus, Georgia-based company fired Gilbert Gottfried less than an hour after discovering the tweets, according to a news release from Aflac.
“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac,” Michael Zunda, the company’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
So far, the earthquake and tsunami have left more than 2,400 people dead, and thousands more in shelters or missing. Most of the tweets attributed to Gottfried make light of the natural disaster in either a flippant or sexual manner…
Colbert’s Reasoning For The Riots In Egypt
Comedy Central’s February 14, 2011 broadcast of The Colbert Report, ridicules Glenn Beck’s reasoning behind the riots in Egypt. Instead, Colbert links the uprising to King Tut’s missing penis.
Oh Cupcake, Where Art Thou?: The Search for America’s Next Sweetheart
Lindsay Lohan in 2002. Photo: RadioKirk (CC)
The U.S. spiraled into decades of romantic uncertainty and self-loathing after the heartbreak of Mary Pickford losing a leg to gangrene following a vicious tavern brawl in 1929. Where will we find America’s Little Cupcake for the 21st century?
Well, 2011 certainly is shaping up to be quite the year for Wisconsinites. Douchebag Senator Paul Ryan not only escaped the noose for his role in engineering the AIG bailouts in the mid-terms, but also became the budget committee chief this January. Newly elected RNC chair and former ethical giant Racid Priebus, a Kenosha native, began in earnest his party’s campaign to contest the health care reform law that he himself claimed was unassailably constitutional. And of course, just this week, America’s Team, the Green Bay Packers took the crown in the fairly eventful Superbowl XLV.
Whew! Pretty heady stuff — but the ride’s not over yet. Valentine’s weekend is almost upon us, and as the United…
The Best Comedian Of Our Time? (Video)
Many on the interwebs lately have been discovering (remembering) the comedy of Dave Chappelle, with this clip in particular:
‘The Empire Strikes Back’ & Others To Be Preserved By U.S. Library
Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back is to be preserved by the US Library of Congress as part of its National Film Registry:
Each year, 25 “culturally” significant films are added to the registry, which was founded in 1989. Lucas’s Star Wars and American Graffiti are among the 550 titles already selected for preservation.
This year’s raft of entries includes Robert Altman’s 1971 western McCabe and Mrs. Miller starring Warren Beatty, Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther and Elia Kazan’s first feature film, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, made in 1945.
Ricky Gervais Explains Why He Is An Atheist
Photo: Caroline Bonarde Ucci (CC)
Perfectly timed for Christmas and all those other winter solstice religious celebrations, British comedian Ricky Gervais tells us why religion is rubbish, in the Wall Street Journal (you might also want to review his responses to readers’ questions):
Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary.
They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard…
The Revenge of The Kids in the Hall
The Kids in The Hall, the greatest comedy troupe to ever walk the Earth, have returned with an all new series called Death Comes to Town. The series is currently on IFC in the US. Death Comes to Town is a Twin Peaks-esque murder mystery with the Kids playing almost all of the characters. It is an absurdist comedy with a cliffhanger plot that keeps you dying to know what will happen next.
Death Comes to Town is not the first reunion of The Kids in The Hall to happen over the years. In addition to their live tours, the Kids have worked together in various combinations on a few projects that some might not be aware of.
Mark, Bruce, and Kevin reunited in the movie Unaccompanied Minors, playing security guards together.
Dave and Kevin also starred in the movie Sky High together as part of the supporting cast, who’s subplot involved the two of them (along…
RIP: Party Down
From Nick Pell at Red Star Times:
Every once in a while a show comes along that reminds you that television isn’t a total wasteland. While science fiction had a good run with Battlestar Galactica, the main arena for quality television over the last ten years have been comedy. Whether it’s broadcast hits like Arrested Development, premium cable gems like Curb Your Enthusiasm or international favorites such as Peep Show, television comedy has come a long way from the days of the formulaic, multi-camera canned laughter disasters that once dominated the airwaves. Indeed, it is the recent crop of what The Onion called “single-camera, awkward pause” comedies that have made television worth watching again. More than just entertainment, these shows speak to the art of comedy writing.
Many shows recognized as classics now were canceled before their time…
The Boondocks Addresses Our Black President
Just a friendly reminder that the new season of the Boondocks airs tonight on adult swim. 11:30 e/p.
Obama Gets Visited by Ghosts of Presidents Past
This is pretty cool if you have been a fan of the history of Saturday Night Live and the actors who played the presidents. Sadly, Phil Hartman who did the best television Reagan ever (among other great things) is no longer with us, so they called in someone else to fill his shoes.
There’s actually a message at the end of the video … enjoy (the video was directed by Ron Howard):
EXHIBIT A: Denis Leary Vs. Bill Hicks
Andy Gately from Austin Underground submitted this lead to us:
“Did comedian Denis Leary steal fellow comic Bill Hicks’ stand-up act and persona? You be the judge. This is the definitive, side by side comparison of the two artists, with all the similar material in question:
EXHIBIT A: Leary Vs. Hicks is an experimental documentary about the potential for artistic theft in the world of stand-up comedy, and the allegation that performer Denis Leary lifted much of his persona and act from fellow comedian Hicks. Culled from hours of archive footage and presented here for the first time, the similarities in question are shown back-to-back, allowing viewers to decide for themselves. The film premiered at the Austin Underground Film Festival, in the town Bill Hicks called home.
