News

Complaining about the Summer Olympics didn’t begin with Candace Cameron Bure and Rob Schneider. Back in 2004, Leary appeared on Late Show with David Letterman with some serious Olympic axes to grind. While a few of Leary’s jokes didn’t age well — assuming he wrote them in the first place — a lot of his criticism still resonates today.

Letterman led him into the rant, recognizing that Leary was a sports fan in general and a hockey enthusiast in particular. But the Summer Olympics? “I think some of the stuff just really isn’t sports,” he complained. “For example, the pommel horse thing. These are circus people, Dave.”

@dysfunctionalbruce

Part of the problem, Leary griped, is that the judges don’t even know what they’re supposed to be judging. “They don’t know how to let these people win. You know, he flew around in the air, he landed.

Nearly 35 years ago DeNiro truly stunned film fans (yes, he could do that back then) when they learned of his next big screen collaboration with Martin Scorsese. It was crazy enough that the duo would follow the brutal one-two punch of Mean Streets and Taxi Driver with a glossy homage to big splashy MGM-style movie musicals, New York, New York, but this? They seemed to be back in their comfort zone with the classic Raging Bull, when they made another big detour. A look at comedy, namely a portrait of a failed stand-up comic (he’d be dubbed a “hack” today) named Rupert Pupkin. 1982’s The King Of Comedy even co-starred the iconic Jerry Lewis, who often claimed that royal title. The film was then considered a box office flop, but the years have been most kind to it (in stand-up parlance, maybe it was “too hip for the room”). Now,...

Let's say you're a six-person improv group — we'll call you "The Commune" — and you've been kicking around the New York City comedy scene for a while. You're drawing a decent crowd, playing the good nights in a Ucb-level venue downtown, and because you've been doing this together for so long, you're hitting maximum performer mind-meld onstage. Then one of your members gets recruited for an SNL-like show called Weekend Live. The rest of you are still left living gig to gig. What's a troupe to do?

That's the central premise of Don't Think Twice,...

Louie, Season 5, Episode 3: “Cop Story”

Written by Louis C.K. (story by C.K. and Robert Smigel)

Directed by Louis C.K.

Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm Et on FX

Anyone who, in the wake of last season’s multipart epics, was hoping that Louie would revert to its early-season modes of storytelling might be taking some comfort in season five’s first few episodes. “Cop Story” opens with a pre-credits sequence that has no obvious narrative ties to the rest of the episode. Louie goes to a high-end kitchenware store in Manhattan and is denied service by its conspicuously attractive 24-year-old owner/operator Andrea (Clara Wong) after betraying the fact that he probably won’t use the pots that often, he just likes to collect nice stuff. When Louie expresses his confusion and dismay, she calmly informs him that he doesn’t fit with their clientele, and she and her...

A review of tonight's "Louie" coming up just as soon as I assume that you're Welsh... The segment of "Cop Story" that gives the episode its title is terrific in its own right, and we'll get to that in a minute, but I wouldn't want the pre-credits sequence to get overlooked. That's a perfect little "Louie" short story, and one that illustrates why this show continues to stand apart from the many other cable series about grumpy middle-aged men. (Take Showtime's "Happyish," for instance. Or better off, don't.) Louis C.K. is a man with strong opinions, as is his alter ego. But he's also curious about the world, and open to the possibility that he isn't right. In many situations where Louie winds up dealing with someone who should be his ideological enemy, he instead realizes that he has more to learn from them than the other way around. Dumping...

Louis C.K. offered a succinct and quintessentially Louie-ish explanation for why he gave up Twitter during an interview with SiriusXM's Opie Radio: "It didn't make me feel good," the comic said. "It made me feel bad instead. So I stopped doing it."

C.K. was clear it wasn't trolls or overwhelming negativity that drove him off the site, but rather his own contributions. "Any time I tweeted anything I was like, 'Ugh don't like the way that came out.' And then four and a half million people saw it!

The second season of HBO's "Looking" came to dramatic end tonight and before we remark on where this episode leaves Patrick, Agustin and Dom, let's take a few minutes and review the entire season, shall we? After a bumpy, but often impressive first season, "Looking" returned in January with a strong season premiere ("Looking for the Promised Land") which found Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and Kevin (Russell Tovey) deeply involved in a discreet affair, Dom (Murray Bartlett) wondering if he'd become closer with his new boyfriend Lynn (Scott Bakula) and Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) trying to dig himself out of a his life hole with a slightly more positive demeanor (likely more thanks to viewer complaints than anything else). The big news was that the show runners had 10 1/2 hour episodes to tell their story versus just eight the prior season. In theory, this meant they could spend more time fleshing out...

The Jump is back! Following the sad demise of fellow sports skills/celebrity-breaking shows Splash and Tumble, The Jump has managed to secure itself a second series on Channel 4.

Davina McCall returns to host the show tonight, with celebrity contestants including former Jls singer Jb Gill, ex-Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts, former rugby star Mike Tindall (married to equestrian and royal Zara Phillips) and Gogglebox favourite Dom Parker.

In fact, we'll see a cast of 16 celebs put through the trauma of performing a daring ski jump live on TV - and they've been sharing their secrets and fears ahead of the start of competition.

The action kicks off tonight with some of our brave celebs taking part in the skeleton: but who will triumph? Who will be going home after the first round? And will we see any nasty injuries? Join us from 7pm to find out.

The Jump 2015:...

Read on for a recap of the night's highs, lows and what-the-hells?!

It's time for the good, the bad, and the Emmys!

Each and every year, the Primetime Emmys give us jaw-dropping surprises, eye-rolling jokes, and cringe-worth moments. To help you weed through the 66th Annual Emmys, we gathered up the best and the worst parts of Monday's live broadcast and packed them into one stylish post. You're welcome.

Read on for a recap of the night's highs, lows and what-the-hells?!

Pics: Hottest 2014 Emmys Fashions

Best | Bryan Cranston and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Sexy Smooch: Early in the night, the dynamic duo presented an award together and Julia Louis-Dreyfus joked that Bryan Cranston looked like exactly like a guy who once guest starred on an episode of Seinfeld way back when. However, when Bryan revealed that it was indeed him who made out with Elaine on the series, Julia failed to remember his smooches. So when Julia...

Review Michael Noble 17 Sep 2013 - 12:53

This episode of Boardwalk Empire is about race, loyalty, and money. Like every episode, then...

This review contains spoilers.

4.2 Resignation

‘When you see your kids remember they didn’t cost you anything’. He might have a tendency towards the sentimental, but Richard can’t half make a point when he wants to. He had, quite literally, a captive audience, but his statement about money stands. It’s a lesson that most of his fellow characters have yet to heed. It’s a natural result of the focus on gangsters, politicians and wannabes (sometimes all three in the same person) that money is the first thing reached for to fix things. It is, in so many cases, wholly inadequate. Perhaps they’d benefit from having their fingers trapped in a drawer for a bit.

For the most part, money remains the grease to everybody’s...

Most documentaries focused on comedians that hit the big screen are shaped as concert films, featuring a live performance recorded during a nationwide tour. Eddie Murhpy, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, The Blue Collar Comedy Tour and The Original Kings of Comedy are just some of the successful examples, but there are plenty of stand-up specials out there that don't make it to movie theaters. Well, actor and comedian Kevin Pollak (A Few Good Men, The Usual Suspects) is looking to bring a taste of the comedian's lifestyle to the big screen with a documentary called Misery Loves Comedy, which he'll direct himself. Read on! You may not know, but Pollak has been doing stand-up comedy for years (watch a clip of him on "The Late Show with David Letterman" right here), and he hopes to open people's eyes to what drives these comedian's senses of humor and more. Pollak says:...

With one week to go before the Oscars, Ben Affleck‘s "Argo" continues its awards season streak as Chris Terrio's screenplay took Best Adapted Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards over the weekend.

Mark Boal's work on "Zero Dark Thirty" took the Best Original Screenplay, while Malik Bendejelloul‘s "Searching for Sugar Man" won Best Documentary Screenplay.

On the TV side the big winners included "Breaking Bad," "Louie," "Girls," "Portlandia," "Hatfields & McCoys" and "Game Change".

Also over the weekend, "Argo" scored the American Cinema Editor's Ace Eddie award for drama. David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" took the same award in the comedy category, and "Searching for Sugar Man" scored best documentary.

In the TV categories, it was "Breaking Bad," "Nurse Jackie" and "Hemingway & Gelhorn" that won top honors.

Louie Spence has reportedly expressed interest in starring in the second series of Splash!

The dancer is said to have told ITV bosses that he would like a spot in next year's lineup of celebrities, according to The Sun.

A source said: "Louie can't wait to get in the pool with Tom Daley. He reckons that he's the perfect candidate for the show."

The former Dancing on Ice judge is known to be a big fan of the show, and appeared as a guest during the live final earlier this month.

Tom Daley's surprise hit TV show has been recommissioned for a second series by ITV, and will return in 2014.

Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards was crowned the winner of the first series, beating former Changing Rooms designer Linda Barker and Benidorm's Jake Canuso to the title.

Rebecca Adlington has been tipped for a spot in Splash! following her recent retirement from swimming.

First up, we're going to have a liveblog for Days of Our Lives with snicks today, so be ready for whatever WilSon gets up to.

I will be extremely happy when next week, I can stop writing about football players, talking about football at the gym and work, and trying to perfect my mini-taco recipe for the Super Bowl party I'm attending. But for now, let's talk about football.

Naturally, Chris Kluwe is not happy with 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver. "While he’s certainly entitled to speak his mind, Culliver is a role model whether he likes it or not. There are kids all over the United States who aspire to be right where he is and he has an obligation to consider the effect of his words. Kids are listening.” Which goes to something I say a lot about actors/singers/sports stars: you are a role model, full stop.

Ben Affleck's "Argo" continues its march as the Oscar front-runner this awards season. Yesterday, the film was the big winner at the 2013 Producers Guild Awards, and tonight, it won the big prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards taking home the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture trophy.

As predicted, Daniel Day-Lewis won the Lead Actor award for "Lincoln" while Jennifer Lawrence won the Lead Actress award for "Silver Linings Playbook."

Tommy Lee Jones won the Best Supporting Actor award for "Lincoln," and my fave, the lovely Anne Hathaway won the Best Supporting Actress award for "Les Miserables."

In the television category, "Downton Abbey" won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and "Modern Family" took home the Comedy Series award.

Here's the complete 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Winners (bolded and highlighted); for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:

Theatrical...

The Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations have been announced, continuing the awards season we’re currently in the midst of, and further recognising a handful of films that are already buzzing ahead of the Oscars.

Les Misérables, Lincoln, Argo, and Silver Linings Playbook all have prominent positions in the SAG announcement, along with an interesting appearance from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in the ensemble category, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

The awards celebrate not just the year’s best performances on the big screen, but also those on television, and some of the biggest and best TV shows have deservedly earned their places in the nominations below.

Modern Family, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and The Office continue to dominate the comedy categories. And joining them in the drama nominations are naturally Breaking Bad, Homeland, Mad Men, Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire, and The Newsroom.

It’s...

The Screen Actor Guild has announced the nominees for its 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards for outstanding performances in 2012 as well as the SAG Awards nods for outstanding action performances by film and television stunt ensembles.

Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables," David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook," and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" led the pack with each film receiving 4 nominations including Best Ensemble.

We'll see the results of the winners of the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. (Et)/5 p.m. (Pt) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Nominations

Theatrical Motion Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper / Pat - .Silver Linings Playbook. (The Weinstein Company)

Daniel Day-Lewis / Abraham Lincoln - "Lincoln. (Touchstone Pictures)

John Hawkes / Mark - "The Sessions" (Fox Searchlight)

Hugh Jackman / Jean Valjean...

Louie, Season 3, Episode 13: “New Year’s Eve”

Written by Louis C.K.

Directed by Louis C.K.

Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm Et on FX

The last time Louie ended a season, we said goodbye to Pamela, the one who quite literally got away. This time around, it’s Liz (Parker Posey), who finally reunites with Louie thanks to a chance encounter, only to collapse and die literally moments later. It’s a rather literal, and shocking, manifestation of Louie‘s ultimate theme, particularly this season: shit happens, and you have to learn to roll with the punches when it does. “New Year’s Eve” throws its cruelest punch yet in Louie’s direction, so he responds with an appropriately wild move: he hightails it to Beijing.

The only thing stopping “New Year’s Eve” from being the quintessential Louie episode is that it turns out to be one of the...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I was once told by a literature professor something to the effect that one should absorb art as if none of it were an accident. That’s a fairly daunting standard to live up to as a creator within any artistic medium namely because it invites the entire audience to hold the work under the most scrupulous of inspections. I’m not unfamiliar with the sentiment that a piece of work of most any kind possesses a quality relative to that of one’s perspective of it. In other words, the closer you look the more something falls apart. In tonight’s episode of Louie the entire universe showed signs of cracking under the weight of one assumption – that one’s father carries an insurmountable quantity of influence on one’s world.

I won’t pretend to examine this episode as anything other than a novice...

When Louie fans and fence-sitters alike were reeling from the show's first season, collectively wondering what the hell we'd all just seen, someone suggested that if the best scenes of those thirteen episodes were assembled into a feature-length cut, it'd be 2010's brightest indie film. As waterproof as that idea was, Louie can just as often feel like a whole film in the span of a 22-minute show. Last night's conclusion to the two part episode "Daddy's Girlfriend" was one of those instances.Like season one's grim, contemplative "God" and season two's equally dark, possibly more ruminative "Eddie," this'll be an installment our thoughts inevitably turn to when we think of Louie, if not Louis C.K. as an entity altogether. He's a comedian first and foremost, but it's hard shaking the notion that walking straight-faced through discomforting themes are as satisfying to C.K. as artfully wrought dick jokes. This...

Chicago – Last year represented a notable leap forward for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as they finally embraced a few critical darlings over popular favorites, finding room for major nominations for shows like “Louie,” “Justified,” “Game of Thrones,” and “Parks and Recreation.” Despite a few wonderful surprises this year at this week’s 64th Annual Emmy Nomination announcements, it was a slight step back. There are still some very deserving nominees but there are also a few choices that are just silly and some worthy artists whose work should have been recognized instead. Here are just ten (or so).

Before we get to the list, a few observations on the full list of nominees in categories that I won’t really be getting into in this feature. It’s interesting that neither of the powerhouse late night talk shows were nominated for Best Variety Series — the press likes...

Louie, Season 3, Episode 4: “Daddy’s Girlfriend: Part 1″

Written by Louis C.K.

Directed by Louis C.K.

Airs Thursdays at 10:30 Pm Et on FX

Continuity has never been high on the list of priorities for Louie. Normally, this would be a hindrance, but Louis Ck has managed to use the freedom gained by not having to follow up storylines by telling tales whose ambiguous endings better serve the story, most notably in season 2′s Eddie, just as a single example. This season, however young it may be, has already seen the show lean more towards establishing running ideas that thread the episodes together—seeing Louie’s motorcycle make a return appearance is a big deal when one recalls that his niece has yet to make another appearance since her mother got arrested—making this the season in which Louis takes on serialization, in his own unique way. In the spirit of that continuity,...

It’s The Walking Dead Midseason Premiere!!! Y…ay? Are we excited? Better kill some zombies quick before we start remembering how much time we all wasted searching for Sophia… Yayy, killing zombies!!! What were we talking about? Ahh yes – Spoiler Alert – Hershel’s entire undead family was just slaughtered before his eyes by Shane and Co., capped off with an encore performance of Rick shooting walker-Sophia in the head and a rousing double-encore of “Born To Run” (I didn’t think he’d play it!!!!) Following this grisly incident, Rick declares that they’re gonna have a funeral for Hershel’s loved ones and for Sophia, partly to continue pretending that they retain some semblance of a still-organized human society, and partly because Shane just really misses those rolled-up cold cuts at funeral spreads: Everyone starts fighting again, and Rick & Shane punch the 12th spot on their “Frequent Fighterz...

Much has been made about late night television being a boys club – from "The Daily Show" to "The Late Show with David Letterman," multiple shows have endured accusations of sexism – so it comes as something of a surprise that one late night host is now embroiled in a lawsuit charging the opposite.

A former staffer on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" is accusing the popular host of "gender bias" in a lawsuit filed in New York, saying he was fired from his job because Fallon "prefers to take direction from a woman" and that he was replaced by a "totally incompetent woman," according to papers obtained by TMZ. Paul Tarascio, the first stage manager on Fallon's NBC show, claims he isn't the only man to have lost his position because of Fallon's lady-preferring ways, alleging audio technicians and a prop-master were also replaced by women at the host's request.

NBC...

New York - The Late Show With David Letterman has demoted its long-time comedy booker Eddie Brill after comments he made about female comedians in a New York Times profile, the newspaper reported. The paper said that the show is going back to sending staffers to scout comedians and then invite them to perform in showcases for a group of senior producers who will book select talent. Brill, who previously had the power to choose stand-ups for the late-night show, is expected to remain as a warm-up comedian for the show, according to the Times. “There are

read more...

Eddie Brill has been the comedy booker on The Late Show With David Letterman for over a decade. But the comedian found himself at the center of a small-yet-potent Internet firestorm last week when The New York Times published a profile in which Brill explains the show’s tendency to book more men than women by noting: “There are a lot less female comics who are authentic.” Brill, perhaps sensing he was on a gender-bias kamikaze run, then explained further: “I see a lot of female comics who to please an audience will act like men.” It’s hard to...

Longtime Late Show With David Letterman standup comedy booker Eddie Brill will no longer handle those duties following an uproar over a New York Times interview in which he said the reason he booked more male than female comedians was that “there are a lot less female comics who are authentic. I see a lot of female comics who to please an audience will act like men.” CBS had no comment yesterday but a person knowledgeable about Late Show said it was returning to a system whereby a staffer from the show will scout comedians at clubs and other performance spaces and invite them to perform for senior producers who will make booking decisions. The Times said Brill was expected to remain as a warm-up comedian for the studio audience.

Eddie Brill has lost his job booking comedians for "The Late Show With David Letterman" after making comments in a New York Times profile that some considered sexist. CBS declined to comment, and Brill did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a person with knowledge of "The Late Show" operations confirmed to TheWrap that Brill will no longer book talent, though he will remain the show's warm-up act. Also read: Lana Del Rey Ripped for 'SNL' Performance Brill lost the booking job after saying in the profile that "there are...

In response to this morning.s firing of Eddie Brill from the Late Show with David Letterman, comedian Bonnie McFarlane, the director of the forthcoming movie .Women Aren.t Funny. defends Brill's comments in a recent article for the New York Times. McFarlane has worked professionally as a comedian for over 15 years. Among her credits include specials on HBO, Comedy Central and the CBC. She was a finalist on season 2 of NBC.s Last Comic Standing and has appeared on both the Late Show with David Letterman and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Her forthcoming documentary .Women Aren.t Funny. is scheduled to release later this year. "People need to stop taking exception every time someone makes a slight towards...

Comedy is largely a man's club. Whether you believe Jerry Lewis' recently Apatow-tanked statement about women not being funny or not, you've still got to deal with the fact that there are Amy Poehlers and Kristen Wiigs here and there, but, by and large, men hold the reins over comedy. Could it perhaps be because they are discriminated against before even getting a chance? The recent firing of The Late Show with David Letterman's comedy booker, Eddie Brill, might lend a little more credence to that. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Brill indicated a seeming bias against female comedians, noting, “There are a lot less female comics who are authentic," before adding "I see a lot of female comics who to please an audience will act like men." The interview garnered intense derision from the Editor-in-Chief of Mirth Magazine, [...]...

Eddie Brill, the stand-up comedian who has booked comics for "The Late Show with David Letterman" for the past 11 years, has been fired, Laughspin.com and the new Mirth Magazine reported on Tuesday.In a "New York Times" profile published last Thursday, Brill caused controversy among the comedy community when he revealed that honesty and vulnerability are two of the most important qualities that he looks for in a comic. He went on to say: "There are a lot less female comics who are authentic. I see a lot of female comics who to please an audience will act like men." Karen Rontowski was the only female comedian booked on "Letterman" in 2011."Mirth" reports that Brill was fired "for speaking to the press without authorization," and not directly as a result of his offensive comments. Brill will continue to warm up Letterman's studio audiences before tapings, but after booking two more.

I'm on vacation this week, but I did get to see tonight's "Louie" right before I clocked out for the week, and since the series is having a very special season, I wanted to offer a place for everybody to discuss the latest episode while I'm gone. "Niece" didn't have the power of last week's trip to Afghanistan, or "Eddie" or a number of other episodes, but it did play nicely off of what little we heard of Louie's other sister when she called him in the Joan Rivers episode. Louis C.K. has had a somewhat ambivalent relationship with continuity on this show in the...

Filed under: TV Replay

Season 2 of 'Louie' (Thu., 10:30Pm on FX) has seemed determined to be way more than just a comedy. With some TV success under his belt and full creative control of his show, Louis C.K. has used the show to explore all sides of the human experience. He's honestly reflected on his own TV failures, family life, tackled celebrity and jokestealing in the Dane Cook episode, and slept with Joan Rivers.

The shows continued to play with dark themes last night, as Louis reunited with an old comedy buddy named Eddie, played by Doug Stanhope. The two had come up together in their early stand-up days in New York, but grew apart as Louis found success and Eddie fell further into drinking and got stuck performing at hole-in-wall clubs.

They hadn't spoken for years when Eddie calls Louis, asks him to meet up, and...

The standup comedy playbook has changed. New media have created more ways to get your act to the masses, and the prevalence of reality TV means fewer scripted series, so success performing live is less likely to earn you a trip to the sitcom big leagues. But audiences still crave talented comedians and, in these crazy economic and political times, need a good laugh as much as ever, so opportunities are out there—if you're good."The cool thing about standup is it's entirely a talentocracy," says Steve Rosenfield, founding director of New York's American Comedy Institute, a school for aspiring comedians. "It really comes down to getting undeniably good, night after night, in front of different kinds of audiences, whether it's a late Saturday night or an early Tuesday show, because when a comedian achieves that, they're going to be seen."Open-mike nights are the inevitable starting point for standups,...

Standup comedian Kumail Nanjiani relocated to New York City from Chicago in 2007 to jump-start his career. Fast-forward just two years, and Nanjiani has been named a comedian to watch by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and New York magazine, writes for and performs on the Comedy Central series "Michael & Michael Have Issues," has appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman," "The Colbert Report," and Comedy Central's "Hot List," and is touring his standup act. This year he's also developing a sitcom pilot for NBC.And he did it with a little help from his friends. Nanjiani knew other Chicago transplants in New York, such as comedian Pete Holmes, and he'd opened for Zach Galifianakis on tour before moving to the city. As soon as he landed in New York, Nanjiani started performing regularly at open-mike nights, where he met and built relationships with more-established comics like Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter.