Back on the road: After breast cancer and other life circumstances forced her to cancel a planned North American tour last year, stand-up comic Tig Notaro is taking her Professor Blastoff podcast on a 15-city journey around the country this spring/summer. Unfortunately, she’s not stopping in our neck of the woods, but we definitely recommend catching the show if Tig & Co. are coming to a venue near you. (Photo via TigNation)
If you read this in a book, you’d say the author went too far and the narrative was no longer believable:
If the gun advocates behind this year’s inaugural Gun Appreciation Day had hoped to use the day’s festivities to build support for their anti-regulation platform, they are going to have to wait another year.
[…]
A representative from Political Media, the group responsible for organizing Gun Appreciation Day, was not immediately available for comment.
This is real life.
It’s like the gun control talking points write themselves sometimes.
Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint is resigning, and Stephen Colbert wants the job. All he wants us to do is tweet #SenatorColbert at Gov. Nikki Haley.
Want to help make #SenatorColbert a reality? Check out Colbert’s pitch here.Reblog/share/like this if you want Senator Colbert to happen.
“Tweet @nikkihaley & tell her why I belong in the US Senate. For one, I wouldn’t just block legislation, I’d body-check it! #SenatorColbert”
For our money, we want Alvin Greene back in. Here’s why:
There will undoubtedly be plenty of fans thrilled to hear this news, but we just hope this is the last time we hear about Katt Williams’ temper getting him into trouble. If you’ve got anger management issues, maybe Suge Knight isn’t the best choice for tour manager. Just a thought.
Comedian Tig Notaro’s Legendary Set Now Available Through Louis C.K.
Louis CK’s e-mail regarding this was epic. An excerpt:
Well, Tig is a friend of mine and she is very funny. I love her voice on stage. One night I was performing at a club in LA called Largo. Tig was there. She was about to go on stage. I hadn’t seen Tig in about a year and I said how are you? She replied “well I found out today that I have cancer in both breasts and that it has likely spread to my lymph nodes. My doctor says it looks real bad. “. She wasn’t kidding. I said “uh. Jesus. Tig. Well. Do you… Have your family… Helping?”. She said “well my mom was with me but a few weeks ago she fell down, hit her head and she died”. She still wasn’t kidding.
Now, I’m pretty stupid to begin with, and I sure didn’t know what to say now. I opened my mouth and this came out. “jeez, Tig. I. Really value you. Highly.”. She said “I value you highly too, Louie.”. Then she held up a wad of note-paper in her hand and said “I’m gonna talk about all of it on stage now. It’s probably going to be a mess”. I said “wow”. And with that, she went on stage.
I stood in the wings behind a leg of curtain, about 8 feet from her, and watched her tell a stunned audience “hi. I have cancer. Just found out today. I’m going to die soon”. What followed was one of the greatest standup performances I ever saw. I can’t really describe it but I was crying and laughing and listening like never in my life. Here was this small woman standing alone against death and simply reporting where her mind had been and what had happened and employing her gorgeously acute standup voice to her own death.
The show was an amazing example of what comedy can be. A way to visit your worst fears and laugh at them. Tig took us to a scary place and made us laugh there. Not by distracting us from the terror but by looking right at it and just turning to us and saying “wow. Right?”. She proved that everything is funny. And has to be. And she could only do this by giving us her own death as an example. So generous.
Worth repeating: ”She proved that everything is funny. And has to be. And she could only do this by giving us her own death as an example. So generous.”
A note to Neil Genzlinger: Your Critic’s Notebook column about the overuse of the term “Really?” was so deeply vacuous that I couldn’t help but feel that you have stepped into my area of expertise.Jerry Seinfeld is really, really p.o.’d at the New York Times. (via entertainmentweekly)
We’re not typically a fan of super slow motion videos, particularly given the effect’s over usage around the web, but this was too good not to share. We sure don’t envy the guy whose only job was to get a face full of obliterated watermelon and glitter. source
The other night, I actually watched a ton of Mitch material on YouTube. So it’s fitting to reblog this. It should break your heart that this man didn’t get to live to see Twitter. His style was basically Twitter, spoken out. — Ernie @ SFB
Twitter-obsessed comic Rob Delaney is making Mitt Romney’s life on Twitter really difficult. And he enjoys it. “Romney fascinates me endlessly,” Delaney told Bloomberg Businessweek’s Joshua Green recently. “He’s such an attractive target comedically because more than any other candidate in my lifetime, he just wants to be president. That’s it! He longs for it. Feels it’s his birthright. I can imagine him getting elected and just saying, ‘Well, that’s that then!’ and staring out a window.” (photos by Erik Naumann/Bloomberg Businessweek)
Doing things this way means I”m making less than I would have made if I did a standard tour, using the usual very excellent but expensive ticketing service. In some cities I’ve had to play smaller venues and do more shows. But I like doing more shows and about a year ago I reached a place where I realized I am making enough money doing comedy so the next thing that interested me is bringing your price down. Either way, I still make a whole lot more than my grandfather who taught math and raised chickens in Michigan.Comedian Louis C.K. • Telling his fans about his unique touring plans — which involve him selling tickets on his site much the same way he sold his last comedy special online. The costs generally tacked onto the tickets are absorbed into the price, and he’ll be performing multiple nights at some venues to make up for some of the lower costs (still around $40/show), but the best part about the tickets is that if they find out the tickets are getting scalped and/or resold for a higher price, they’ll cancel the ticket and refund the original buyer. Take that, ticket brokers!
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
TV Land has announced that a controversial joke, told by legendary insult comic Don Rickles, will not appear during the television broadcast of the American Film Institute’s tribute to Shirley MacLaine. “President Obama is a personal friend of mine,” said Rickles, adding, “He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.” (EDIT because some didn’t get the joke: Rickles is implying that Obama is his janitor, which has racial connotations.) While Rickles’ spokesman, as well as fellow comedian Jim Norton, were quick to defend the 86-year-old comedian, many others are happy to hear that the joke won’t make it on-air. So, what do you think? Did TV Land make the right call? (Photo by Gary Dunaier) source
Arlen Specter, doing stand-up: This is from a Philly comedy club in December. For some reason, we get the feeling that the former senator has been trolling us with these sexually-explicit comments over the past few days.
Television news correspondent caught “sleeping” on air: An awkward moment was broadcast to all of Austin, Texas on Wednesday when FOX News correspondent Doug Luzader appeared to be sleeping when an anchor working for KTBC tossed to him.
According to the Digital Journal, a YouTube user later claimed Luzader direct-messaged them on Twitter to explain he was not asleep, but rather did not know the toss had occurred as his interruptable feedback earpiece (IFB) had gone dead.
Judge for yourself. [KTBC]
Dude needs sleep!
Iran Reenacts History With a Giant Cardboard Cut-Out Ayatollah
On this day in 1979, Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned home after 14 years in exile. This morning, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran reenacted the very important moment in their country’s history with a very bizarre ceremony — and a cardboard cut-out of Khomeini. Read more.
[Image: Mehr News Agency
In related news, my cardboard cut-out of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini went missing three days ago … and now we all know the culprits.
Today in fodder for upcoming Sacha Baron Cohen movies.
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