Comedy
Will Arnett Cast as Sweet Tooth in Live-Action Twisted Metal Series
Twisted Metal is hightailing it from your PlayStation to streaming. The long-running vehicular combat video game is being adapted into a live-action series for Peacock, with Will Arnett executive producing and starring as its cheerful villain Sweet Tooth. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the first Twisted Metal video game back in 1995. Now, we’re returning to “Lost Vegas” almost 30 years later, as Sweet Tooth still ravages the town with his unforgettable clown mask and disastrous ice cream truck. As previously announced, the half-hour action-comedy series will also star Anthony Mackie as protagonist John Doe, a smart-ass milkman whose two main goals are to make his deliveries and survive on the way. The Twisted Metal cast also includes Stephanie Beatriz as Quiet, a c...
Pauly Shore Teases Possible Encino Man Sequel: “I Would Do It for the Fans”
Love them or hate them, remakes, reboots, and revivals are having a moment in Hollywood and on streaming. Disney+ might be cashing in next with a sequel to 1992’s Encino Man, according to one of the film’s stars, Pauly Shore. Speaking in an oral history of the film with Inverse, the actor added that if his co-stars Brendan Fraser and Sean Astin were on board, he might be down for a remake. “I know Disney+ is talking about possibly doing the sequel,” Shore said. “If they want me to do it and the script was right and Brendan and Sean were on board and it made sense, I would do it for the fans! It’s what George [Zaloom, who wrote Encino Man] has been working on. So ask him about it.” When asked, Zaloom offered little in terms of clearing the air: “If you ask me ‘Is there going to be anot...
Bo Burnham Releases 63 Minutes of Unreleased Footage from Inside: Watch
Bo Burnham has shared 63 minutes of unreleased outtakes from his Emmy Award-winning comedy special, Inside. What’s more, a deluxe edition of the special’s companion album, Inside (The Songs), will be released on June 3rd. Burnham shared his quarantine special Inside in May 2021, and it quickly became a pandemic sensation. Filmed at the same house that Wes Craven used for the exterior of A Nightmare on Elm Street, the special was less a traditional comedy special than a musical exploration of an unravelling mind. It went on to win Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Music Direction, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media for “All Eyes on Me.” Consequence also honored Burnham by...
Norm Macdonald’s Posthumous Nothing Special Is Unlike Any Other Comedy Performance — Review
It’s hard to imagine a comedy set like Norm Macdonald’s latest and last. Nothing Special, a title that manages the Norm-like feat of simultaneous irony and honesty, was recorded at Macdonald’s home, without an audience, during the pre-vaccine pandemic days of 2020. It’s performed in the style of a webcast; MacDonald has a microphone, but he’s sitting down, focusing mostly on his face, as if Zooming into his own special. The press materials boast that it was done in “one take,” which is both impressive, in that Macdonald appears to do 55 minutes of comedy more or less extemporaneously without any breaks for laughs, and obvious, in that he’s occasionally interrupted, by a ringing phone or a barking dog. The comic had been preparing material for his next Netflix special, but, as very few peop...
Michael Che “Doesn’t Have Any Plans” to Quit Saturday Night Live
The next season of Saturday Night Live is going to look a little different from what we’re used to, but not every one is leaving. Following the news earlier this month that Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney were all departing the show, Weekend Update anchor Michael Che said he “[doesn’t] have any plans to leave just yet.” “I think I’m staying,” Che told The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on his self-titled podcast. “I never know, it’s hard. Once the season’s over it’s best to not to make decisions like towards the end of the year because all you want to do is get out of there, you’ve had your fill. But August or September is usually a different story. I don’t have any plans to leave just yet.” Simmons did poke fun at Che’s indecisiveness, as the comedian has ...
“Weird Al” Yankovic Announces Graphic Novel The Illustrated Al
There’s even more weirdness coming your way: “Weird Al” Yankovic has joined forces with Z2 Comics for a new graphic novel called The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic. Written by Yankovic, the book will compile 20-plus illustrated interpretations of his songs. With an expected release coming in late November 2022, The Illustrated Al boasts a long list of contributors including artists Bill Plympton, Aaron Augenblick, Peter Bagge, Wes Hargis, Jeff McClelland, and more. It also comes complete with an introduction written by Yankovic’s longtime collaborator, comedian Emo Philips. “It’s such an incredible honor to see my song lyrics brought to life by some of my all-time favorite cartoonists and illustrators,” Yankovic writes in a press release. “I’ve actually bee...
Dear Comedians, When Did the Concept of Empathy Get So Difficult?
Not that the current conversation about comedy, Netflix, and trans people needed a new development this month, but it got one in the form of Tuesday’s (May 24th) debut of a new Ricky Gervais special. You don’t really need to watch SuperNature on Netflix or read the recaps of his comments if you don’t want to — it’s the same strutting for attention that Gervais has executed countless times over the years, with a token attempt to say that he does believe in trans rights… well, at least, he says: “Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: Lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.” A message tha...
Dear Comedians, When Did the Concept of Empathy Get So Difficult?
Not that the current conversation about comedy, Netflix, and trans people needed a new development this month, but it got one in the form of Tuesday’s (May 24th) debut of a new Ricky Gervais special. You don’t really need to watch SuperNature on Netflix or read the recaps of his comments if you don’t want to — it’s the same strutting for attention that Gervais has executed countless times over the years, with a token attempt to say that he does believe in trans rights… well, at least, he says: “Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: Lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.” A message tha...
Samuel L. Jackson Joins Chris Pratt in Upcoming Animated Garfield Film
Chris Pratt is set to voice Garfield in an upcoming feature from Alcon Entertainment, and now Samuel L. Jackson has joined the cast as a brand new character: Garfield’s father, Vic (via The Hollywood Reporter). Written by David Reynolds and directed by Mark Dindal, the currently untitled animated film will be distributed by Sony Pictures. Alcon acquired the rights to the film from Garfield creator Jim Davis, who will serve as executive producer on the project alongside Bridget McMeel and Craig Sost. John Cohen, Steven P. Wegner, Broderick Johnson, and Andrew Kosove will produce, while DNEG Animation will bring Davis’ characters to life. The Garfield comic strip debuted in 1978, and the cynical titular tabby cat, his owner Jon Arbuckle, and his frenemy Odie the Beagle have dominat...
Samuel L. Jackson Joins Chris Pratt in Upcoming Animated Garfield Film
Chris Pratt is set to voice Garfield in an upcoming feature from Alcon Entertainment, and now Samuel L. Jackson has joined the cast as a brand new character: Garfield’s father, Vic (via The Hollywood Reporter). Written by David Reynolds and directed by Mark Dindal, the currently untitled animated film will be distributed by Sony Pictures. Alcon acquired the rights to the film from Garfield creator Jim Davis, who will serve as executive producer on the project alongside Bridget McMeel and Craig Sost. John Cohen, Steven P. Wegner, Broderick Johnson, and Andrew Kosove will produce, while DNEG Animation will bring Davis’ characters to life. The Garfield comic strip debuted in 1978, and the cynical titular tabby cat, his owner Jon Arbuckle, and his frenemy Odie the Beagle have dominat...
Ricky Gervais’ New Netflix Special SuperNature Also Super Transphobic
Ricky Gervais, the comedian who gained fame by lampooning the sexism, homophobia, and overall incompetence of corporate America, has reinvented himself as Ricky Gervais, Genital Understander. He has a new Netflix special out now, and to the surprise of no one, SuperNature is also super transphobic. “Oh, women!” he says less than five minutes after he began (via Variety). “Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks. They’re as good as gold, I love them. And now the old-fashioned ones say, ‘Oh, they want to use our toilets.’ ‘Why shouldn’t they use your toilets?’ ‘For ladies!’ ‘They are ladi...
Eminem Shuts Down Pete Davidson’s Final SNL Rap Video: Watch
Pete Davidson had one final treat for SNL viewers before ending his seven-season run: a rap tribute video to the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels. The skit, which was apparently cut for time, begins with host Natasha Lyonne informing Davidson that Michaels is depressed because the two never got to make a rap video together. “You know, that guy has literally done everything for me, so I’m going to pay him back by doing this rap video exactly the way he wrote it,” decades Davidson. Set to the tune of “Forgot the Dre,” David proceeds to honor Michaels’ legacy by ratting off his many accomplishments — from discovering comedians like Chris Farley, David Spade, and Kristen Wiig, to writing Three Amigos, to winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The accompanying visuals feature Davidson dressed...
