Last night on his Showtime series, “Inside Comedy,” David Steinberg interviewed Eric Idle and Bob Einstein. The latter told some hilarious anecdotes about working with Redd Foxx, as well as the origin stories of his Officer Judy and Super Dave characters. But I was struck by something Eric Idle said when Steinberg asked who inspired […]
Austin Tichenor and Reed Martin, the writers/directors/actors behind The Reduced Shakespeare Company, have written and performed (with other cast members) some very funny shows over the last two decades. Besides the Bard, they have lampooned and condensed the history of America, western civilization, great books, sports, Hollywood, and comedy. I have seen almost all of […]
Last night, my daughter and some friends went to see The Muny’s production of “Spamalot,” which she enjoyed, but she was surprised that the lyrics to one of the songs had been changed. It’s a number in the second act that, in its original New York production, was called “You Won’t Succeed On Broadway (If […]
We went to see Brian Regan last night at the Peabody Opera House, completing a season in which we’ve seen the men and women I consider today’s five best touring standups, all at the top of their game — besides Regan, we’ve seen Paula Poundstone, Jake Johannsen, Louis CK (my review is here), Kathleen Madigan […]
Ben Brantley has a front-page NY Times piece today on how the standing ovation has become the default reaction to live performances, with audiences leaping to their feet at the end of virtually every production, regardless of whether it was deserved. The reasons for the ubiquity of the promiscuous S.O. have been widely pondered by […]
That’s a photo that Teller posted on Twitter of a portrait of Ricky Jay, the magician/actor/author known for this card-throwing abilities. I don’t know where it was taken, but the portrait consists entirely of thrown playing cards. If you’re not familiar with Jay, he has appeared in many TV shows and movies, including at least […]