Weekly Comedy: Leslie Nielsen Rises from the Grave

Not a whole lot out this week, unless you’re really excited about yet another Ice Age movie. Which you really shouldn’t be. At all.

DVD

Monty Python: Almost The Truth – Easily the highlight this week, IFC’s 6-part in-depth and surprisingly candid documentary featuring all of the remaining Pythons (although it is a little strange to continue referring to them as “the remaining Pythons” considering only one of them is dead and according to this doc, it’s a shock he lived as long as he did). Interviews with a huge range of comics and comic actors are included; everyone from Simon Pegg to Russell Brand to Ricky Gervais to… OK so it’s mostly British comics but still, pretty fascinating stuff. Definitely worth a rental, or catch it in reruns on IFC.

Whatever Works – Woody Allen’s latest attempt to wring comedy out of a creepy May – December romance, featuring Larry David doing his best Larry David impression. Sounds like fun, right? This thing got pretty mixed reviews, but many said it was the best thing Allen’s done since Match Point, so who knows. Oh, and for the record, the poster for this is awful.

Adult Swim in a Box – This is a pretty odd box set; kind of a “best of” Adult Swim seasons (ironically missing Venture Bros., the best show on the network). You get: Aqua Teen Hunger Force season 2, Space Ghost Coast to Coast season 3, Moral Orel season 1, Robot Chicken season 2, Metalocalypse season 1, and Sealab season 2. It’s kind of a motley collection of episodes, but I suppose someone at Williams Street just cherry-picked what they thought were the best seasons they had. Probably makes a good gift for.. uh… someone who loves absurdist humor but somehow doesn’t own or hasn’t seen any of these.

Stan Helsing – Someone exhumed the corpse of Leslie Nielsen for this tired, sad-looking horror spoof about a video clerk who does battle with parody versions of famous movie monsters (Freddy, Chucky, maybe some Critters or Ghoulies show up, who gives a shit). This thing went straight to video, so yeah, now you know.

Road Trip Album Picks: "NPR Funniest Driveway Moments"

WHAT: Collection of interviews with comedians and amusing interviews from NPR
LABEL: HighBridge Company, 2008
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: NPR, but don't listen to it much, and comedy new or old
WHERE TO FIND IT: Your library, book stores, online
LENGTH: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Depending on your entertainment affiliations, you may listen to either a massive amount of NPR or none at all. As I listen to a lot, much of NPR Funniest Driveway Moments had already graced my iPod through podcasts of shows like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and others. If you permanently have your tuner set to your local NPR affiliate, odds are you've heard many of these, and the bulk of the collection is pretty timely. Some of these segments were older, some are newer, and there's a really good mix of the new generation of comedians with some of the older ones, plus a segment with Richard Pryor that sort of sticks out because he's not really involved as such. Also sticking out is a bit with Justice Stephen Breyer, who is not a comedian so much as a member of the judiciary. It's not so much a comedy thing, it certainly qualifies as amusing but it also doesn't fit here particularly well.

Since this is a collection of radio broadcasts with new segments introducing them, what you have here is essentially a perfect driving companion for fans of comedy. It isn't always funny so much as it is informative, but there's quite a bit to enjoy here if you're already a fan of the personalities on the discs, like Demetri Martin or Phyllis Diller or Sarah Silverman. Or Dame Edna. (Which we are not.) If you already have it in for these people, clearly, skip that segment-- but the whole collection is great. It's a delight to hear Steve Martin's early stories about making two cents at Disneyland, or how Mel Brooks used to play music with comedians before getting involved with Your Show of Shows.

Unlike most things I post here, this is one of very few family-friendly collections in the sense that if you're reading this, odds are you could pass it along to your parents and they probably wouldn't have a problem with it unless Lily Tomlin really pissed them off for some reason. Besides, they're going to need an introduction to Larry David, and this collection has all that and more. Heck, it's worth hearing just to hear another interview with LD, so be sure to track this one down for your next road trip. Just do it soon as it's starting to feel a little dated as some comedians go on to new things or, in some cases, retire from the business.

Weekly Comedy: A Few Days Early

So last week there was no Weekly Comedy article, and it also happened to be one of the biggest release weeks in a long while (if you’re in to network sitcoms), and so to compensate, here’s Weekly Comedy a few days early. Happy now?

DVD

Observe and Report – This pitch-black and occasionally shocking comedy from Seth Rogen came out basically at the wrong time – only a few months after Midwesterners had decided thatPaul Blart: Mall Cop would be the only mall cop-themed comedy they’d be interested in seeing this year. Observe and Report is a really solid, really daring film that pushes black comedy to strange, disturbing new places. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you’re the sort of person who can laugh at a situation no matter how utterly fucked up and broken it gets, you really shouldn’t miss this one.

30 Rock: Season Three – The third season of 30 Rock was really great and it’s out on DVD this week. This season featured Jack’s romance with Salma Hayek and the episode where Kenneth sees the world as populated by Muppets. You have no excuse to not buy this.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto – Based on the comic book by Rob Zombie, this animated tale of a superhero luchadore who fights Nazis and shit seems like it’s tailor made for the comic book store clerk who’s also really into heavy metal. Featuring original songs by Hard ‘n Phirm and the voices of Brian Posehn and Paul Giamatti. I watched the clips on Amazon and it honestly didn’t look particularly funny; fans of Jon Krickfalusi might dig it, though. They’re definitely biting his style.

Hot Fuzz & Shaun of the Dead (Bluray) – These were available on HD-DVD before, and are now out on Bluray. Both are excellent films (although perhaps over-quoted and over-referenced by the malignant geeks who do that sort of thing). If you’ve never seen these before, then feel the proper amount of shame.

TV

Bored to Death – Debuting tonight on HBO, Bored to Death stars Jason Schwartzman as a struggling writer who decides to moonlight as a Private Dick. Also starring Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson; it looks particularly low-key and mannered, and might be pretty damn good. Incidentally you can watch the entire pilot right now, right here.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 – The seventh season of Larry David’s misanthrope-athon begins tonight, and promises a Seinfeld “non-reunion”, which is pretty great, but that doesn’t happen until a couple episodes in. Frankly, the last few seasons of this show have been a little weak; especially season 5, although the end of Season 6 was really great. Here’s hoping they’re going to maintain that level of quality.

COMEDY SKIPPABLES THIS WEEK

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – Matthew McConaughey sure does bang a lot of chicks, and in this movie, it’s their turn for revenge! Shirts will be removed, wedding cakes destroyed, perhaps a dog will have a reaction shot, and in the end, McConaughey will turn out to be not as douchey as everyone thought. Until he resets his persona for the next movie where he’s a douchey ladies man who gets his comeuppance.

A Slow Week for Funny

Well, I scoured Amazon and sifted through the DVR and it looks like it's a pretty slow week in the world of comedy.

DVD:

There are really only two significant releases this week that are advertised as comedies, although neither of which seems particularly deserving of the title: Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Amy Adams Isla Fisher, and The Pink Panther 2: The Sequel Nobody Fucking Asked For, starring Steve "paycheck" Martin. Like I said, slow week.


CD:

The only new comedy album out today is an album called Half Breed by comedian Al Madrigal. I listened to the samples on Amazon and it's pretty standard race humor. Not worth your time.

LATE NIGHT:

There are a few bright spots in this week's late night offerings; tonight, Larry David will be on The Daily Show promoting Whatever Works, which will doubtlessly challenge Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for box office supremacy this weekend. David was on The Tonight Show last week, looking a lot more like an old man than he ever did on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Speaking of The Tonight Show, on Friday, Sacha Baron Cohen is showing up in character as Bruno. It'll either be hilarious or boring and predictable, and frankly, the trailers plus muted reaction to the Bruno film so far point to the latter rather than the former. But hey, maybe it'll turn out brilliant. Who knows?