I Did an Event Review for You, teh Internetz

It was for Anthem and about a special viewing of the MoMA's Tim Burton Exhibit. [One of the tags below is included in the taxonomy because Tim Burton draws a lot of things with huge boobs: sexy sunflower womanoids, sexy lady zombies, sexy female aliens, etc.]

The Mature Thing To Do [Simpsons Clip With Celebrity Cartoonists]

via videosift.com

Hotel La Rut [Kids In The Hall]

Not all comedy is this timeless.

3 Minutes And 4 Seconds Of Elmo And Celebrity Ricky Gervais

"Patriarchal Omniscience" Or Something

I think if you want (me) to identify a single thread in Tina Fey's work—from creating the long-running SNL parody of the View to writing Mean Girls to helming 30 Rock—it's that she seems to have marshaled her amazing personal disdain for other women into comedy. If you think for a moment about other depictions of misogyny (e.g. In the Company of Men), and compare them to this montage of Jack Donaghy, it's hard to ignore that what makes his statements unique are the fraction of the time that they more resemble the mean things women think about themselves and other women.

It adds to this authoritative, "patriarchal omniscience" aspect to his character—an aspect I recognize as interesting, but shouldn't waste any more time on today.

Wow Just Wow [ONN Edition]

By any criteria—Melding Of Found And Filmed Footage, Make-up, Concept, Jokemedy, Audio Mixing, Pacing—this sucker is brilliant.


Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP

Read Tom Scocca On Jonathan Safran Foer's New Nonfiction Book [If You Like To LOL]

Tom Scocca: My advice to young would-be reporters is to write a novel, because once you've written a book-length made-up story, you're qualified to write about any sort of factual business you please. [via the Awl, honestly just read the Awl every single day]

Important Blog Reading Message [Not Spam]

My friend Adrian Chen is in a gladiatorial blogging competition with other members of the chattering class for an open editorial position at Gawker.

SO: Click on all his posts! Read them! Comment upon them! Go Biz-0nk3rzzzz!

It totes won't be a waste, because someone there already posted about him being funny, like a whole year ago!

Great Moments In Manufactured Youth Culture

Also: I strongly consider looking at my friend's piece on the last Polaroid film in existence being sold at Urban Outfitters.

Invitation To Derisive Laughter

The backstory: This guy used to teach one of my brother's math in high school. According to my brother, this "toolbag [...] was a turd bucket."

"Huh, Collateral Damage"

George Clooney has made a defecation out of one of my all-time-favorite nonfiction books. (Thanks, jerk. Really: Thanks. Thanks especially for the ham-fisted, Big Lebowski stunt casting.)

Beep Boop* seems enthusiastic about this turkey; though Videogum is more in my camp—but: Why trust us? Why not view the trailer and a clip or two from the actual Jon Ronson documentary and decide for yourself?

[Note: This last clip is of Jim Channon, the man Jeff Bridges is playing in the Clooney adaptation. Do you not notice how much more amazing and wildly implausible and frankly more compelling the real guy is?! Ahhhhhhhhrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!!!1!!]

*My 2003-era blog idols are in their twilight.

In this video: By re-showing a clip The Daily Show took out of context, Bill O'Reilly proves that The Daily Show had judiciously re-packaged the clip in a pretty accurate and funny new context. Then some CNN pundits ignore that fact and say inane things.

Is Sky Mall Embracing The Humiliation Of Its Brand?

Given the popularity of Sky Mall and Sky Mall-esque products as an object for derisive laughter [Exhibit A; Exhibit B; and Exhibit C From the Onion itself], this banner ad purchase is a genius move. People looking for a sardonic laugh at Sky Mall's expense—literally on a money-per-click basis—will not be able to help themselves!!!

Kids In The Hall Season 1 Notes

By now, I think most everyone is aware of how good the troupe is at playing rich female characters. Something I don't hear enough people say, though, is how good Scott Thompson is at making fun of heterosexual machismo. This bit is admittedly broad, but he sells it well. I mean, hey, I LOL'd:

Conan Father's Day Bit

Perfectly executed.

[UPDATE] Horror Stories From SNL in 1995

A choice excerpt, because I don't feel like I have sold this piece well yet. Skip to the end, if you don't like Roseanne, but do like stories about Norm MacDonald punching people:

Lately, the extracurricular action in the writers’ room has been more colorful than a lot of the writing.

The show hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker, in November, included a song contrasting love’s higher and lower impulses. Michael McKean sang chastely to Parker, plunking an acoustic guitar; then Sandler cranked up his electric guitar to underscore sophomoric lines like “I’m gonna give ya the wood!”

During rewrites of the piece, Kightlinger jokingly suggested to the group that the song be made even more explicit—and found herself the target of a crude barrage. “A couple of them turned on her,” says a close friend of Kightlinger’s, “with these really vicious, mean sexual things. . . . She’s one of the strongest people I know. Very tough to faze. And it made her cry.”

Kightlinger, who wrote for Roseanne last year, has been reciprocally shocked by the thin skin of her new colleagues. “I’ve had to pare down my sarcasm big-time,” she says, adding that she now feels “really positive” about SNL. “In the writers’ room at Roseanne, you could shit on each other and everybody would laugh. But here, it’s like, ‘Wait a second—that’s a piece I’ve worked on, dah, dah, dah.’ It gets personal in a hurry.”

In December, Ian Maxtone-Graham, a self-described anti-smoking zealot, complained about Norm MacDonald’s lighting up in the writers’ room. MacDonald shrugged it off. So Maxtone-Graham extinguished the cigarette by squirting MacDonald in the face with a water pistol. MacDonald punched Maxtone-Graham in the head, knocking him to the floor.

Horror Stories From SNL in 1995

There are a lot of great bleak vignettes in this article—from Chris Farley's sycophantic display at a memorial for deceased SNL-writer Michael O’Donoghue, to Julia Sweeney's personal annoyance with Lorne Michaels' phalanx of high-strung young blonde assistants (widely mocked as "the Lornettes").

I left the article with a sense of the heroic awesomeness that is Jim Downey; pitty for the "too hip for the room" new hires like Laura Kightlinger, Chris Elliot and Janeane Garofalo; a reaffirmation of my love for Bill Murray; and a potentially productive chunk of my day gone.

[Link via a 1995 New York magazine]

LOL [Context-Free Image]

"Look At Me Like A Human Boy"

Haim Saban: Ay Yi-Yi-Yi Yi !!!

I have been waiting over three years for a scandal involving the Israeli-American neoconservative billionaire Haim Saban, the man who made a fortune single-handedly bringing Japan's Super Sentai craze to the U.S. (re-dubbed Power Rangers). I am also thankful this scandal is funny.