comedy

Stories 81 - 100 | << Prev   Next >>

Troubled NBC Looks for Ratings Amid Laughs

Quarter of schedule devoted to comedy

(Newser) - NBC is looking to comedy to help it climb the ratings ladder: Nearly 25% of the network's fare next season will consist of sitcoms, up from just 14% last fall. Execs are aiming to recapture the highly-educated young adults that helped propel Seinfeld and Friends, the Los Angeles Times...

Two and a Half Men Gets 10th Season

Ashton Kutcher gets a pay raise in renewed contract

(Newser) - Ashton Kutcher still has a job: CBS has officially picked up Two and a Half Men for a 10th season, reports the Hollywood Reporter . The renewed deal gives Kutcher and co-stars Jon Cryer and Angus T Jones raises, with Kutcher reported to now be making $725,000 an episode, up...

'Andy Griffith' Star George Lindsey Dead at 83

'Goober' character kept America laughing for nearly 30 years

(Newser) - George Lindsey, who spent almost 30 years appearing in TV classics like "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Gunsmoke," has died at age 83, WSFA reports. The small-town Alabama boy kept America laughing from 1964 to 1971 with his jovial Goober character on "Andy Griffith" and its...

Has Hollywood Punished Rachel Dratch for Her Looks?

One blogger thinks her brand of humor is to blame instead

(Newser) - In her new book, Girl Walks Into a Bar, Rachel Dratch says her looks have cursed her career. "By Hollywood standards, I’m a troll, ogre, woodland creature, or manly lesbian," she writes, and that's prevented her from getting the roles she wants—NBC replaced her as...

Dame Edna Announces Farewell Tour

Barry Humphries says he's 'beginning to feel a bit senior'

(Newser) - Beloved comic genius Barry Humphries says he's hanging up Dame Edna's frock and planning a farewell tour, the Daily Telegraph reports. "It's the best aerobics you could do, leaping around on stage, but it's grueling when there are other things to do," says Humphries....

Casa de Mi Padre Is a One-Trick Pony
 Casa de Mi Padre Is 
 a One-Trick Pony 
Movie Reviews
Mar 16, 2012 1:54 PM CDT

Casa de Mi Padre Is a One-Trick Pony

And that one trick is in Spanish

(Newser) - Will Ferrell made a movie in Spanish? Yep. Ferrell's latest flick Casa de Mi Padre is an entirely subtitled affair, sending up low-budget telenovelas. Critics are lukewarm on the results—some appreciate its zaniness, but many liken it to an overlong sketch.
  • "As tickled as I was by
...

This YouTube Star Earns $1M a Year

 This YouTube 
 Star Earns  
 $1M a Year 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 5, 2012 6:00 PM CST

This YouTube Star Earns $1M a Year

Ray William Johnson's one-man show has 1.5 billion views

(Newser) - Sure, it's full of keyboard cats and double rainbows, but these days, YouTube is also a serious moneymaking machine. YouTube star Ray William Johnson is showcasing the medium's potential: With more than a billion total views, he's making about $1 million a year through his clips, insiders...

'Joke' Rape Film Sparks UConn Uproar

Video scrubbed from UCTV following protests

(Newser) - What is it with New England universities? Just days after news broke that a sex assault accusation may have scuttled a Yale quarterback's chance at a Rhodes Scholarship comes word of a "joke" rape video aired on the University of Connecticut's student broadcast network. The "comedy...

Late Show Fires Staffer Amid Sexism Controversy

Eddie Brill: Women comics aren't 'authentic'

(Newser) - The Late Show's comedy booker has been fired following an uproar over his comments regarding women in comedy, the New York Observer reports. Last week, a New York Times profile quoted Eddie Brill as saying that "there are a lot less female comics who are authentic. I see...

SNL Comes Up Lame This Primary

 SNL Comes Up 
 Lame This Primary 
OPINION
Jan 17, 2012 1:58 PM CST

SNL Comes Up Lame This Primary

This field should be a gift from the comedy gods: Kera Bolonik

(Newser) - There was a time when Saturday Night Live could have had great fun with Mitt Romney's proclamation that he "liked to fire people." Instead we got this week's bland cold open (see video) in which Romney tried to (ha ha) fire his breakfast. "It's...

Ricky Gervais Promises Same Tone in This Year's Golden Globes
 Who Are 
 Ricky's 
 Targets 
 Tonight? 
golden globes
Jan 15, 2012 6:08 PM CST

Who Are Ricky's Targets Tonight?

British comedian promises same 'tone' as last year

(Newser) - Ricky Gervais, who will you skewer tonight? The third-time Golden Globes host won't say but does promise that "the tone is going to be the same" as last year, when he insulted everyone from Charlie Sheen to Angelina Jolie, the Huffington Pos t reports. "Let's get...

Arlen Specter Does Stand-Up Comedy at Helium Club in Philadelphia
 Arlen Specter Does Stand-Up 
Dec 28, 2011 12:07 PM CST

Arlen Specter Does Stand-Up

Yes, really

(Newser) - Arlen Specter has a new gig, and to hear him tell it, it’s a logical progression from his old one. “I’ve been in comedy now for 30 years,” he told the audience at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia. “It’s sit-down comedy.” Yes,...

Stalled Career, Ageism Drove Ex-SNL Writer to Suicide

Wayne's World writer Joe Bodolai found dead in Hollywood hotel room

(Newser) - Joe Bodolai's long career in show business came to a sad end in a Hollywood hotel room. The 63-year-old comedy writer and TV producer was found dead the day after Christmas, having apparently committed suicide by drinking a mixture of antifreeze and Gatorade. Bodolai, who wrote for Saturday Night ...

Modern Sitcoms Rehash Old Ideas, Aren't Funny: Review
 TV Comedy Is 'Back'? Ha! 
opinion
Nov 27, 2011 3:53 PM CST

TV Comedy Is 'Back'? Ha!

Modern comedies badly rehash old ideas: Times critic

(Newser) - If this is the comeback season for the sitcom, at least one critic wants to go wayyyy back: to Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore, and Leave It to Beaver. "Certainly no series introduced this fall is breaking new ground," writes Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times . He concludes...

Mike Tyson Plays Herman Cain in Parody Ad
 Mike Tyson Plays 
 Herman Cain in Parody Ad 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 13, 2011 7:00 PM CST

Mike Tyson Plays Herman Cain in Parody Ad

As part of 'Live Funny or Die' a campaign series

(Newser) - Is Mike Tyson actually turning into a comedian? First there was his roast appearance and now this: He’s been cast as Herman Cain in Funny or Die’s new election season parody series “ Live Funny or Die. " The series launched last week with a video featuring most...

'Jack and Jill' Movie Reviews: Critics Hate Adam Sandler Film
 Jack and Jill 
 'Stupefyingly 
 Unfunny' 
review roundup
Nov 11, 2011 11:22 AM CST

Jack and Jill 'Stupefyingly Unfunny'

Movie may be Sandler's worst ever, prompts call for his retirement

(Newser) - Adam Sandler’s latest comedy, in which he plays his own twin sister, is mind-numbingly bad, reviewers say—so poor, in fact, that it languished at a remarkable 0% on Rotten Tomatoes , which calls it “impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever," for most of the morning:
  • “
...

Comedies Are Heart-Healthy, But Horror Movies Aren't
 Comedies Are 
 Good for Your Heart 
study says
Aug 29, 2011 6:56 PM CDT

Comedies Are Good for Your Heart

But war movies aren't

(Newser) - To give your heart a boost, turn on The Hangover—but make sure you avoid Halloween. Movies that make you chuckle are good for your vascular function, while stressful war and horror movies hurt your system, a study finds. Researchers showed bits of funny movies one day and the opening...

Seinfeld Puts His Comedy Online... Slowly

Comedian concerned with 'portion control'

(Newser) - Jerry Seinfeld wants to give his stand up to the world—eventually. He’s gathered up more than 1,000 clips of his comedy for the new JerrySeinfeld.com site he’s launching Friday, but he only intends to release three of them a day. “I don’t want...

It&rsquo;s OK to Laugh at Osama
 It’s OK to Laugh at Osama 
OPINION
May 2, 2011 1:59 PM CDT

It’s OK to Laugh at Osama

You don't have to respect the dead if the dead is a mass murderer

(Newser) - It is, in many quarters, still too soon to joke about the 9/11 attacks, but America hasn’t wasted a minute making jokes about Osama bin Laden’s well-earned demise, notes Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon . “You know Barack and Michelle are having some crazy ‘we killed bin...

Maher: The Onion Stole My ‘Afterbirther’ Joke

The only problem: they made the joke first

(Newser) - Now that President Obama has turned the birther movement into an even bigger punchline than it already was, it’s no wonder that a cackling Internet has been bandying about an Onion article headlined, “Afterbirthers Demand to See Obama’s Placenta.” Pretty funny, right? Well, Bill Maher wasn’...

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