Weekly Comedy: The Prodigal Shit Returns

The Olympics are over, which means one good thing and one very bad thing. The good news is that Community, Parks & Rec and The Office are all back with new episodes this week. The very very bad news is detailed at the end of this post. All you can do is shake your head in disappointment.

DVD

Cold Souls – Paul Giamatti’s black comedy involving his soul being put in cold storage so he could become a better actor came out quietly last year and is out on DVD this week, where people might actually see it. Set your Netflix queues!

Gentlemen Broncos – Pretty much every single critic out there thought this thing – which is from the people responsible for Napoleon Dynamite (is it time to start ironically wearing Vote for Pedro shirts yet?) – was a total disaster, and so 20^th Century Fox actually cancelled its theatrical release. It also features Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement and Sam Rockwell, and that might be enough for some to roll the dice.

Rifftrax Double Feature – Best of Shorts vol. 1 packaged with Night of the Living Dead for cheap. THRILLING!

TV

Players – A new comedy from Matt Walsh airing on Spike TV Tuesday night, Players is being advertised as kind of an obnoxious sitcommy spin on Waiting…, set in a sportsbar. The commercials are probably not doing it justice based on the talent involved, but this is Spike, so who the hell knows. Check it out for yourself and judge away.

Big Downer of the Week

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno returns March 1^st, which is today. A nation mourns.

The Late Shift 2010: Kimmel does Leno

Last night on ABC, we saw a delightful high-concept show from Jimmy Kimmel once again on his late-night gabfest Jimmy Kimmel Live. In the past he's had Quentin Tarantino as a guest director, and as late-night goes he's game for a lot. As you can see here.



Kimmel did the entire show in-character as Jay, with his bandleader Cleto playing the role of Kevin Eubanks. The band's cues were spot-on to the point of preposterous, once again proving that the rule of threes isn't enough-- sometimes you need the rule of fourteens.

The Late Shift 2010: The Coco Letters

The continued shake-up/feud/brouhaha over at NBC concerning its Late Night Schedule continues, and today there was a pretty fantastic statement appearing around the web, which says:

"...I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [the Tonight Show's] destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet, a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more."

In short, he won't take the 12:05 AM slot, which makes sense, as that's technically "The Tomorrow Show" and Tom Snyder already had that gig. Twitter and social media outlets erupted in support of Mr. O'Brien, and while you all know we're big fans, we can't help but wonder how many of these people actually watch the show given the reports of Tonight's ratings as of late.

But Wait, What About Jay?
Over on The Naughty But Nice Blog, Mr. Leno may also be considering departing NBC, which raises all sorts of questions. (For example, "is any of this true?") It's an exciting time for comedy gossip, is it not?

File Under Rumor Mill
Another rumor going around, one we have yet to find a credit for beyond it appearing on a single blog and being repeated, is that NBC is talking to possible "guest hosts" for The Tonight Show in the near-term, which is something we haven't seen since the Carson era.

The Late Shift 2010: NBC Shuffles Late Night?

A big bomb hit the web today with rumors of a big shakeup on NBC's late night roster. Would Leno be dropped, or replace Conan? Well, apparently one great thing about the internet is that rumors travel fast and NBC was quick to dispel the disinformation. That is, if the New York Times is on your list of reliable sources. Here's the scoop, and it's weird.

Today:
Leno at 10:00 PM
Conan at 11:35 PM
Fallon at 12:35 AM
Carson Daly at 1:05 AM

Soon:
Leno at 11:35 PM
Conan at 12:05 AM
Fallon at 1:05 AM
Carson Daly...???

So basically, Leno gets his old slot back, Conan goes on later than now (but earlier than before), and Fallon and Carson Daly get pretty hosed. Will America stand for what might be about a sold hour of monologue and desk jokes each night?

This Week in Late Night: Get Ready to Stifle your Vomit

So the fall TV season is in full swing and that means pretty much everyone is on; Letterman obviously scored the biggest guest of the week – he’s got the President on tonight (although if we’re going by girth, Leno has Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, if you want to tune in to what might be the least watchable hour of television ever broadcast)

(Seriously, Rush fucking Limbaugh on the Jay Leno Show? Can anyone name something worse than this?)

(Fucking Leno!)

Also, an update: we’re not listing Chelsea Handler’s comics anymore because it’s a rotating panel of comedians and every week it’s pretty much the same 20 people or so.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

LETTERMAN

9.24 Craig Ferguson

CONAN

9.21 Ricky Gervais

9.22 Lisa Lampanelli

9.23 Martin Short

9.24 Joel McHale

9.25 Seth MacFarlane

FERGUSON

9.24 Jason Schwartzman

9.25 Ted Danson

FALLON

9.22 Seth Meyers

9.23 Amy Poehler

9.24 Anthony Anderson

9.25 Kevin Smith

LENO

9.22 Pee Wee Herman, Amy Poehler

9.23 Vince Vaughn