Conan and Jordan Schlansky play a game where two people locked in a room have to solve a puzzle in order to escape. Tommy Wiseau is not involved in anyway.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Hogan's Heroes : Breaking
I'm watching an episode of Hogan's Heroes from Season 5 and in the episode "the gang" has to retrieve something from Klink's safe. So Newkirk puts on the stethoscope and breaks into it.
Come on, this is Season 5, they should simply have the combination memorized by now. What are we supposed to think, that Klink is changing out his safe every few days? Heh Heh.
Come on, this is Season 5, they should simply have the combination memorized by now. What are we supposed to think, that Klink is changing out his safe every few days? Heh Heh.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
The Tonight Show - Louis C.K.
How rare it is that "The Dana Carvey" show gets mentioned in any capacity but how sweet it is. Louis C.K. tells a story about the time when he was head writer for "The Dana Carvey Show" and Jimmy Fallon auditioned to be in the cast.
I've always thought I should make a post dedicated to "The Dana Carvey Show" but I probably never will so I might as well summarize it briefly here.
"The Dana Carvey Show" was a tragically under-watched, underrated, under-appreciated show that was cancelled after just 7 episodes. It was probably my favorite show of the mid-90s.
Look at the talent involved. The writers/performers for the show included:
Louis C.K.
Robert Smigel
Dana Carvey
Stephen Colbert
Greg Daniels (Parks and Rec, King of the Hill, The Office)
Steve Carell
Spike Feresten (SNL, The Simpsons, Seinfeld)
Charlie Kaufman (yes, THE Charlie Kaufman, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Jon Glaser (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
Bob Odenkirk
Dino Stamatopoulos (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
And ALMOST Jimmy Fallon.
I've always thought I should make a post dedicated to "The Dana Carvey Show" but I probably never will so I might as well summarize it briefly here.
"The Dana Carvey Show" was a tragically under-watched, underrated, under-appreciated show that was cancelled after just 7 episodes. It was probably my favorite show of the mid-90s.
Look at the talent involved. The writers/performers for the show included:
Louis C.K.
Robert Smigel
Dana Carvey
Stephen Colbert
Greg Daniels (Parks and Rec, King of the Hill, The Office)
Steve Carell
Spike Feresten (SNL, The Simpsons, Seinfeld)
Charlie Kaufman (yes, THE Charlie Kaufman, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Jon Glaser (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
Bob Odenkirk
Dino Stamatopoulos (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
And ALMOST Jimmy Fallon.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Brian Stack Leaves Conan
Thursday was long-time writer Brian Stack's last show. Stack joined in 1997 during the "Late Night" days and was a mainstay actor in sketches and bits. Some of my personal favorites were: Clive Clemmons, Hannigan (the traveling salesman), Artie Kendall (the Bing Crosby-esque singer), Brian LaFontaine (the creepy lounge singer), the singer of the Minty theme, WikiBear and Frankenstein.
The best-of tribute to him is not available on youtube but can be watched on the Conan website here.
This feels like a huge loss. He, along with Robert Smigel, Jon Glaser, Andy Blitz and Brian McCann seemed to be the heart of the show that I first fell in love with in the late 90s. And of those, Stack was the last one left.
"Hitlery-hoo???"
The best-of tribute to him is not available on youtube but can be watched on the Conan website here.
This feels like a huge loss. He, along with Robert Smigel, Jon Glaser, Andy Blitz and Brian McCann seemed to be the heart of the show that I first fell in love with in the late 90s. And of those, Stack was the last one left.
"Hitlery-hoo???"
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
The Late Late Show - Corden's First Episode
The new host of The Late Late Show is James Corden and his first episode aired last night. You can watch it here.
Although I've stated it many times, I'll mention again how a late night talk show can't be assessed based on the first episode - it's a marathon not a sprint, and boy is it a long marathon. He had the big comedy piece with loads of celebrities and it went well (see below) but he's not going to have that every night. And his first guests were Mila Kunis and Tom Hanks... he will also not have those guests every night.
That aside, how was the first episode? It was good. The monologue was short but heartfelt - he thanked his predecessor Craig Ferguson but didn't thank Craig Kilborn or Tom Snyder (more on that later). The guests were obviously good. He has Reggie Watts as his band leader. He has no desk and they actually had both guests come out at the same time. It's unclear whether that's going to be the norm or whether that's just for the first show.
The second comedy piece (see below) was also very good. One gets the feeling that they'll be going for the kind of comedy pieces that go viral on youtube instead of the usual "desk" routines (well, there's no desk, so...). Again though, you won't have Tom Hanks every night.
I love the fact that they went with a Willy Wonka/Golden Ticket reference, I'm a big fan. But there's something strange and coincidental about that. When Craig Kilborn's first episode as host was about to air, this is one of the commercials that aired:
And this wasn't the only one, it was a whole campaign of several different commercials. There was even one with Vince Vaughn that you can watch here.
It's the same show so why do I think it's strange and coincidental? Well Corden didn't thank Craig Kilborn for starting/continuing the show. Seems like if he was even slightly aware of the show's past, he would have done that.
Although I've stated it many times, I'll mention again how a late night talk show can't be assessed based on the first episode - it's a marathon not a sprint, and boy is it a long marathon. He had the big comedy piece with loads of celebrities and it went well (see below) but he's not going to have that every night. And his first guests were Mila Kunis and Tom Hanks... he will also not have those guests every night.
That aside, how was the first episode? It was good. The monologue was short but heartfelt - he thanked his predecessor Craig Ferguson but didn't thank Craig Kilborn or Tom Snyder (more on that later). The guests were obviously good. He has Reggie Watts as his band leader. He has no desk and they actually had both guests come out at the same time. It's unclear whether that's going to be the norm or whether that's just for the first show.
The second comedy piece (see below) was also very good. One gets the feeling that they'll be going for the kind of comedy pieces that go viral on youtube instead of the usual "desk" routines (well, there's no desk, so...). Again though, you won't have Tom Hanks every night.
I love the fact that they went with a Willy Wonka/Golden Ticket reference, I'm a big fan. But there's something strange and coincidental about that. When Craig Kilborn's first episode as host was about to air, this is one of the commercials that aired:
And this wasn't the only one, it was a whole campaign of several different commercials. There was even one with Vince Vaughn that you can watch here.
It's the same show so why do I think it's strange and coincidental? Well Corden didn't thank Craig Kilborn for starting/continuing the show. Seems like if he was even slightly aware of the show's past, he would have done that.
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