Comedy
SNL’s Colin Jost Was Forced to Read a Joke About His Own Wife Scarlett Johansson’s Poor Casting Decisions
As has become tradition for Saturday Night Live’s Christmas show, Weekend Update co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che carve out a segment to read jokes they’ve written for each other without seeing them beforehand. It typically manifests in some hilariously cringe moments, like when Jost is forced to read jokes that make him look like a racist asshole. For tonight’s episode, however, Che actually got Jost to roast his own wife. In recent years, Scarlett Johansson has twice faced criticism for taking on roles she had no business playing. In 2017, she starred in an adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell. The following year, she was cast to play a transgender man in a film called Rub and Tug, but ultimately dropped out of the project amidst backlash...
Johnny Brennan on the Origins of the First Jerky Boys Album in 20 Years: “It’s a Whole Different Game Today”
Something about being kept away from typical entertainment outlets this year led to a surge in nostalgia content. Pop culture reunions grew from one-off virtual gatherings to fully-scripted streamable events. That made it somewhat fortuitous that 2020 happened to be the year Johnny Brennan decided to return with his classic prank project The Jerky Boys. Brennan recently released the first Jerky Boys album in 20 years, a long-demanded effort that’s been met with the warmest of welcomes by fans. All the favorites like Sol, Frank, and the rest are back, alongside new characters ringing up everyone from Social Security scammers to iRobot customer service reps to college admissions offices. Speaking with Brennan over the phone — where he does his best work, after all — the comedian and voice ac...
HBO Max Also Pulls Chappelle’s Show at Dave Chappelle’s Request
Last month, Netflix removed Chappelle’s Show from their service at the behest of Dave Chappelle himself. The beloved comedian has now asked HBO Max to pull the iconic sketch series from their library, and they’re granting his request. In a lengthy Instagram video posted in late November, Chappelle explained that because of the contract he signed with ViacomCBS back when the show was made in the mid-2000s — years before streaming services even existed — he actually doesn’t see a penny of the money that ViacomCBS receives when it licenses the show out to companies like Netflix and HBO Max. “They [ViacomCBS] didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract,” Chappelle said in the clip, which compiles footage from recent stand-up gigs. “But is that right? I found out that these people were ...
Sundance Film Festival Announces 2021 Virtual Lineup
The Sundance Film Festival will continue in 2021 and returns with a new upgrade amidst the ensuing pandemic. For the first time ever, the entire festival will take place digitally through “a feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform” in conjunction with in-person festivities that will air through Satellite Screens across the country from January 28th to February 3rd, 2021 “Togetherness has been an animating principle here at the Sundance Institute as we’ve worked to reimagine the Festival for 2021, because there is no Sundance without our community,” said Sundance Institute Founder and President Robert Redford. “Under Tabitha’s leadership, we’ve forged a new collective vision: one that honors the spirit and tradition of these invigorating yearly gatherings in Utah, while making roo...
Top 25 Films of 2020
Our Annual Report continues as we reveal the Top 25 Films of 2020. Stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles in the days and weeks to come about the best music, film, and TV of the year. If you’ve missed any part of our Annual Report, you can check out all the coverage here. Going to the movies ain’t like it used to be, right? What an understatement. With theaters shuttered up and movie chains filing for bankruptcy, one might argue it’s been a pretty crap year for cinema. Financially speaking, they’re not wrong. But, art is a funny thing. It has a way of enduring even the most arduous obstacles — you know, that whole Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park, “life finds a way” bit — and this year was a testament to that truth. Art had no issue finding a proper stage. That stage, as fate...
The Jerky Boys on the Current PC Culture
Kyle Meredith With… The Jerky Boys Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS The Jerky Boys mastermind Johnny Brennan talks with Kyle Meredith about the infamous prank caller’s first album in over 20 years. Brennan, who also voices Mort Goldman in Family Guy, goes deep on what made the fictional characters resonate so much during their ’90s peak, getting Seth McFarlane’s seal of approval on the newest collection, and being an influence throughout National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The man behind Sol Rosenberg and Frank Rizzo also discusses knowing how to work his caller, developing new characters, being recognized on the phone, and the current PC culture. Kyle Meredith With… is an ...
Chappelle’s Show Removed from Netflix at Dave Chappelle’s Request
On November 1st, Chappelle’s Show was added to Netflix’s library. Now, less than a month later, it’s been removed from the platform — at the request of Dave Chappelle himself. In a lengthy Instagram video, the comedian claimed that he hasn’t been properly paid for his work on the iconic sketch series, and that he was never consulted about Netflix’s streaming deal. In the 18-minute clip titled “Unforgiven”, Chappelle asserted that he “never got paid” after departing Chappelle’s Show. The 47-year-old comedian also alleged that ViacomCBS, the company which owns the show, never reached out to him regarding licensing the series to Netflix. “They [ViacomCBS] didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract,” Chappelle said in the video, which compiles footage from recent stand-up gi...
The Christmas Chronicles 2 Completely Wastes the Magic of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn: Review
The Pitch: It’s been a couple of years since Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy (Judah Lewis) helped save Christmas, with the help of a bedraggled Saint Nick (Kurt Russell). This time around, they’re twiddling their thumbs on a beach resort Christmas vacation hosted by their mother Claire’s (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) deeply-vanilla beau… Please click the link below to read the full article. The Christmas Chronicles 2 Completely Wastes the Magic of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn: Review Clint Worthington You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and hel...
Sinbad Recovering from Stroke
Sinbad is “beginning his road to recovery” after recently suffering a stroke. “It is out of sincere love that we share Sinbad, our beloved husband and father, is recovering from a recent stroke,” the comedian’s family revealed in a statement issued on Monday (November 16th). “Sinbad is a light source of… Please click the link below to read the full article. Sinbad Recovering from Stroke Alex Young You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
David Cross Gets Back to Basics in Brooklyn
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public Assembly is a docuseries from the Consequence Podcast Network that looks at what brings us together. Because most of our moments in 2020 have either been canceled, postponed, or all-out deconstructed, we’re humbled and beyond elated to spend the rest of the year following icon and multi-hyphenate of funny, David Cross. Recorded in 2019, the second season of Assembly finds host Robert Milazzo following Cross around as he shapes his new stand-up act through a set of intimate gigs in Brooklyn, New York. There will be friends, family, and colleagues. In Part 1, “Nothing to See Here”, Cross gets back to basics to put together his next feat of stand-up comedy. However, when his basics meet h...
Stand-Up Comedy Is Bringing a Much-Needed Edge to SNL
One of the stranger modern-day quirks of Saturday Night Live is how the show still draws some of its talent from the stand-up scene. This wasn’t necessarily the case for most of the aughts, but in the last few years, the late-night program has reverted to its ’90s strategy of throwing stand-up comedians in with all of the veteran improvisers and writers-turned-performers. Despite this tradition and its variety-show bona fides, Saturday Night Live isn’t especially built for stand-up. Instead, performers who want to flex those muscles traditionally have to head to Weekend Update, where Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones have found a stage in recent years. This season, though, a whopping four of the six hosts so far have been stand-up comedians, and their performances are subtly toying with the s...
Dave Chappelle: “You Have No Problem Wearing Them at the Klan Rally, Wear Them to Walmart Too”
Nearly four years to the day of his first time hosting Saturday Night Live, Dave Chappelle returned to Studio 8H to once again headline the sketch comedy show’s post-election episode. As to be expected, the comedian’s opening monologue proved to be the highlight of the evening. Chappelle began his monologue by noting how the events of the day had him reminiscing about his great-grandfather — a former slave who taught himself how to read and who then committed himself to a life of education, civil rights, and religion. “It was a pretty amazing story my great-grandfather had, and I thought about him all day because I wish I could see him now,” Chappelle remarked. “And I wish he could see me. Because I wonder what he would say.” In particular, Chappelle predicted how his great-grandfathe...
