Category: Humor (Page 44 of 74)

Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy now open for business

September 10, 2008 /

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, there’s a great article about “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane and his new $100 million, five-year deal with FOX. If that sounds like a lot of money for a guy in charge of an animated series, you’d be wise to hold your tongue. In addition to writing, producing and voicing roughly half of the characters on the show, MacFarlane is also in charge of similar duties on his companion series, “American Dad,” as well as the new “Family Guy” spin-off, “The Cleveland Show,” set for debut in early 2009. Let’s just say the guy is definitely earning his paycheck.

If that wasn’t enough, the animation wunderkind has officially launched his new series of web shorts entitled “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” I had previously heard about his plans for the web series before, but it was sheer luck that I happened to stumble upon it on the day of its official launch. For those wondering what to expect on the site, it’s pretty simple: you know those fun cutaways that appear throughout the course of an episode of “Family Guy”? You know, the ones that were so infamously lampooned on “South Park” for being completely random? Well, picture those minus the actual story.

There are currently only two up on the site (one involving a contestant on “$25,000 Pyramid” who is partnered with a dog, and another spoofing “Super Mario Bros.”), but they’re both excellent examples as to why MacFarlane is making the big bucks. It’s exactly these types of shorts that separate “Family Guy” from everything else on TV, and the fact that MacFarlane is creating even more on his own is great news for fans.

External TV, Humor, TV, TV Comedies

Lewis Black: Anticipation

August 8, 2008 /

His “Daily Show” appearances tend to miss the mark more often than not, but as a stand-up comic, Lewis Black is at the peak of his powers: hot on the heels of last year’s Grammy-winning The Carnegie Hall Performance comes “Anticipation,” another collection of rants from the most well-known self-proclaimed socialist in the comedy world. You’d think listening to Black come up with reasons to sputter and yell would start to get old after a while – and you’d be right, especially during those “Daily Show” segments, when he often seems to be straining for the crowd’s amusement – but he hits his targets more often than not on this set. Per its title, this collection is geared toward anticipation – specifically, how foolish it is, whether you’re a golfer hitting the course in search of a good game, a gambler looking for a big win, or a kid looking forward to opening his Chanukah presents. (This last bit includes one of the album’s best lines: “Ooh, a pen and a pencil! Good thing I have two eyes!”) If you’ve already got a Black album in your collection, you probably don’t need this one to go with it – but it’s still pretty damn funny. Long may he roar.

Click to buy “Lewis Black: Anticipation”

Humor, Reviews, Stand-Up Comics

Bill Burr: Why Do I Do This?

August 6, 2008 /

Bill Burr’s brand of humor, for lack of a better word, could be called the inner workings of the mind of the angry white man. He’s not angry, of course, but he hits on topics that could be perceived that way, like when he talks about ‘white people are evil’ movies (inspired by the swimming drama “Pride”), the overexposure of pedophiles on TV, and not being allowed to hit women. One of his best bits involves the hypocrisy of humans controlling the animal population while we procreate without consequence (“Don’t you think, after three loser kids, that you don’t have the DNA to make somebody special?”), and we dare you to not think of Burr the next time your girlfriend wants to buy jewelry at a flea market. He may not have much in the way of crossover appeal, but we doubt that matters much to him, nor should it.

Click to buy “Bill Burr: Why Do I Do This?”

Humor, Reviews, Stand-Up Comics

Comic-Con 2008: Day Three – The Simpsons

July 27, 2008 /

As mentioned near the start of this panel, “The Simpsons” has pretty much beat every other prime-time television show in terms of longevity, number of episodes, etc. — except for “Gunsmoke” and “Lassie,” which also makes it the all-time king of sitcoms with a reservoir of goodwill able to withstand more than one below-par season. This appearance by the show’s main creative team was a predictably relaxed and mirthful affair in which creator Matt Groening and writers Al Jean and Matt Selman did most of the talking — quieter panelists included director David Silverman, who helmed “The Simpsons Movie,” and writer Carolyn Omine.

Before the official start of the panel, Groening introduced some clips from next Fall’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode, including a brief segment involving Homer Simpson and a particularly violent form of vote rigging that goes well beyond the worst imagingings of Diebold-fearing liberals, as well as a spot on parody of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” with a Linus-like Milhouse accidentally tricking the supernatural pumpkin into a form of vegetarian cannibalism. (It’s complicated.)

Wasting no time, the event was immediately thrown open to questions. The first young questioner asked if the long-suffering Marge Simpson, tiring from her numerous attempts to get the permanently obese Homer to lose weight, would start gaining weight herself. The writers’
response was they would promptly steal the idea and that it would likely show up in a Simpsons comic book, if not the actual show.

Another question referred to a recent episode parodying the comic book world featuring an appearance by mad comic writing genius Alan Moore (“Watchmen,” “V for Vendetta,” “From Hell”) and a joke about an animated “Watchmen Babies” series. Writer Matt Selman expressed his own intimidation at working with the artistically and personally imposing Moore, who apparently got the joke but also stipulated that the gag itself was also an example of an evil corporation (this is Fox, after all) debasing one of Moore’s creations.

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Comic Con Blog 2008, Comic-Con, External TV, Humor, TV, TV Comedies

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