When Will Some Brave Comedian Spoof Jon Stewart?

For eight very long minutes Jon Stewart spoofs Glenn Beck. Good luck slogging through the last half. As my mind wandered near the end two questions suddenly came to me: Why won’t Michelle Pfeiffer take my calls and other than Keith Olbermann, who’s more spoof-able nowadays than Jon Stewart? Consider how much comedy gold there is to grab hold of: (more…)

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Tags: comedy, Glenn Beck, jon stewart, Keith Olbermann, Political Comedy
Posted Nov 7th 2009 at 1:04 pm in Political Humor, Politics, Video | 259830256 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/07/when-will-some-brave-comedian-spoof-jon-stewart/When+Will+Some+Brave+Comedian+Spoof+Jon+Stewart%3F2009-11-07+21%3A04%3A12John+Nolte

‘The Onion’: Tragic News — Glenn Beck Not Dead

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Wow. Going after Glenn Beck. What iconoclasts! How brave! How ballsy! How against the grain! How counter-culture!

If “The Onion” is so desperate to be liked by the establishment, why not just send certificates for free ice cream, or something? (more…)

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Tags: comedy, Glenn Beck, political, The Onion, Video
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 5:48 pm in Politics, Video | 256946245 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/02/the-onion-tragic-news-glenn-beck-not-dead/%27The+Onion%27%3A+Tragic+News+--+Glenn+Beck+Not+Dead2009-11-03+01%3A48%3A55Big+Hollywood

It’s the Saul Alinsky Comedy Show!

“The only way to upset the power structure in your communities is to goad them, confuse them, irritate them and, most of all, make them live by their own rules. If you make them live by their own rules, you destroy them. And never forget that ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. Comedy is our friend. Throw the kitchen sink at them!” – from Saul Alinksy’s “Rules for Radical Comedians.”

Alinsky

I never really had any insight into the pure comic genius of Saul Alinsky until I saw his new age Method followers display their considerable chops on the national stage. James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, the Master’s ostentatious and envelope-pushing Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner-like proteges, whose hilarious ACORN skits also showed brilliant flashes of the late great Allen Funt. The Mysterious Mister X, the L.A. street comic who “Alinskyed” Faris Alkhateeb’s boredom-fueled Obama Joker art into an urban poster as devilishly humorous as Hannibal Lecter, also made as big a national splash as a 300-pound chub doing a cannonball into a crowded public kiddie pool. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Andrew Brietbart, anti-war, Barack Obama, big government
Posted Sep 25th 2009 at 6:41 am in Political Humor | 22877837 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/09/25/its-the-saul-alinsky-comedy-show/It%27s+the+Saul+Alinsky+Comedy+Show%212009-09-25+13%3A41%3A50John+T.+Simpson

Time for a Comedy Czar?

I love being a stand-up comic. I have gotten to travel all over the world. I have met and worked with a number of my idols in the business. I have been my own boss and set my own schedule since I quit my last “real” job way back in 1980. I get to use my God-given creative talents to make a living. What’s not to like?

The thing I like most about comedy is that is the last bastion of laissez-faire capitalism in America. There is no minimum wage and no salary cap. On the downside there is no pension plan and no health care. I get no sick days, no paid holidays, no personal days, and there is no family leave. I have to provide for myself and I do it gladly because there are no rules, no government regulations, and no unions.

My fear is that at the rate President Obama is going through the economy it won’t be long before he realizes that there are still a few Americans having some fun and outside his control. He is well on his way to ending the American automobile industry, private banking and nationalizing energy. Over at the Supreme Court we will soon have yet another activist judge who believes that equality of opportunity should yield equality of result and that if it doesn’t then there must be bias in the system.

It’s only a matter of time until the Obama administration will discover that there is an unregulated business in America and move to bring the comedy industry under control. His first move will be to appoint a Comedy Czar who will be responsible for all regulation joke telling, writing and the hiring and firing of comedians. He will address the inequity in pay issue. Why should Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin James receive more than I get for doing the same job? (more…)

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Tags: comedy, czar, government regulation, Obama, stand-up
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 at 5:01 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 18849852 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/07/23/welcome-to-obamedy/Time+for+a+Comedy+Czar%3F2009-07-23+12%3A01%3A55Jeffrey+Jena

Lonewolf Diaries: Why ‘Gayness’ Can Be Funny

I’m sure that I’ll get some heat for this, but I feel it is timely to say… Folks, it’s okay to find flamboyant homosexuality funny. Somewhere along the “common sense line,” people have started to equate the ability to find the humor in life with hate speech. Does the idea (note: I didn’t say content) of a movie like “Bruno” offend you? Do you feel that the idea of somebody chuckling over a flamingly over-the-top gay man to be so repulsive that it borders on hatred? To you I say “Nay”! Read on to find out why.

Let me be the first to say it. My name is Steven Crowder and I happen to find blatant gayness funny. I mean really funny. I can remember my first “gay encounter” as a child. I was watching the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving morning. Al Roker was interviewing Richard Simmons. As nothing more than a wide-eyed four-year-old, I was completely vexed. Here was a man on my television set, complete with chest-hair and quadriceps fuzz. He was just…“off” to me for some reason. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until the light bulb in my underdeveloped noggin turned on. “Hey Dad,” I asked. “Why does that man act like a woman?”

(more…)

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Tags: Al Roker, Bruno, comedy, homosexuality, Ned Flanders
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 3:53 pm in Entertainment, Lone Wolf Diaries, Other | 1670026 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2009/06/23/lonewolf-diaries-why-gayness-can-be-funny/Lonewolf+Diaries%3A+Why+%27Gayness%27+Can+Be+Funny2009-06-23+22%3A53%3A45Steven+Crowder

Late Night Round-Up: Huckabee and Stewart Spar on Abortion

After a week that will go down in history as the moment Republicans finally stood up for themselves, comics are not laying off John McCain’s former running mate just yet. Bill Maher said that Iran was propped up by oil revenue and run by a religious whacko, just like Alaska. Letterman, despite frequent jokes about the amount of hate mail he has been receiving, couldn’t help mentioning that Gay Pride week was the only time of year when you can see hundreds of men dressed up like Sarah Palin.

The big topics of the week were Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the presidential fly killing:

The election of Mahmoud was compared by the talk show hosts alternately to the 2000 Presidential and the 2008 Minnesota Senate elections. Fallon claimed that now that his opponent lost, he’ll go on to make a documentary about Global Warming.  David Letterman actually did a joke almost every single night, changing the punchline from Florida voting machines, to Pat Buchanan, Al Gore, Al Franken and Jeb Bush.  Bill Maher used Norm Coleman then criticized his audience for not knowing who he was talking about. The funniest line was Ferguson’s who claimed that Iranian politics have finally gotten as corrupt as Chicago. (more…)

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Tags: 2000 Presidential elections, 2008 Minnesota Senate elections, Al Franken, Al Gore, ashton kutcher
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 6:42 am in Entertainment, Political Humor, Politics | 1660825 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/06/23/late-night-7/Late+Night+Round-Up%3A+Huckabee+and+Stewart+Spar+on+Abortion+2009-06-23+13%3A42%3A38Tim+Slagle

Arabic Film Breaks Historic Barriers

First Arabic Language comedy in Saudi Arabia in 30 years

This last week, “Menahi” became the first feature film shown in Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years. I worked as a supervising producer on the film last year in Cairo, Egypt for two months. I even appear briefly in a scene in an airplane as an American asking the film’s principal, Menahi, if he is crazy – “Ana magnun!?” – in Arabic.  Since I wrote the “Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American To Fight Terrorism” and Saudi Wahabism is a primary ingredient in terrorism these days, my head spins with the juxtaposition of my work and the film’s groundbreaking venue. The fact that “Menahi” is an Arabic language comedy makes it all the more surreal.

Films are prohibited in Saudi Arabia.  Shown in the western city of Jeddah, more “open” than Riyadh, the audience was composed of men and children younger than 10.

Well. It’s a start. (more…)

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Tags: Arabic, comedy, Egypt, Islam, Menahi
Posted Jun 20th 2009 at 11:07 am in Entertainment, News | 158850One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmandaville/2009/06/20/saudi-arabia-reels-under-humor/Arabic+Film+Breaks+Historic+Barriers+2009-06-20+18%3A07%3A43Michael+Mandaville

‘The Hangover’: Comedy Hit of the Summer?

–

Lou Lumenick says this might be THE comedy hit of the summer.

Nothing would be more welcome than an R-rated comedy in this genre that doesn’t resort to forgettable gross-out gags, scenes that never end and a mind-numbing runtime. And if it sounds like that’s picking on Judd Apatow … it is.  (more…)

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Tags: "American Pie", comedy, Deuce Bigalow, judd apatow, Lou Lumineck
Posted May 28th 2009 at 5:49 pm in Entertainment | 146314No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/28/the-hangover-comedy-hit-of-the-summer/%27The+Hangover%27%3A+Comedy+Hit+of+the+Summer%3F2009-05-29+00%3A49%3A43John+Nolte

‘The Goode Family’: Animation Continues to Save Political Satire on TV

Since the election of Barack Obama, aggressive political parody has been hard to come by outside of Comedy Central. But, as noted here on Big Hollywood, ABC and Mike Judge are taking on political correctness and progressive activists with The Goode Family.

When Bush and Cheney left office, they became old news. Mocking them now is like making Eisenhower jokes, but that doesn’t stop the occasional hack like Wanda Sykes trotting out tired material. And Obama seems off limits lest anyone wants to look like a buzz kill during the ever-lengthening, forced-fed honeymoon. In fact, the only show that really dared effectively to venture into political mockery consistently this season was South Park.

Mike Judge

And spare me any mention of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Both shows kiss the Democratic ass (the donkey, I mean) all week until they realize how biased they’ve become. Then they scramble around to make fun of some minor Dem Congressman for 30 seconds and applaud their own objectivity. Meanwhile, Stewart rages at every conservative cause he can find with the furor (not the wit) of Murrow until he’s called on it. Then he scrambles back into his hole screaming, “I’m only a comic!”

Fortunately, The Goode Family levels the satirical skills of Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) at the taboo supporters of global warming, racial hypersensitivity, animal rights and any other cause over-hyped by self-righteous busybodies. (more…)

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Tags: " "The Daily Show, "The Colbert Report", "The Goode Family", abc, animation
Posted May 28th 2009 at 9:37 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, Political Humor | 144966No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jslewinski/2009/05/28/goode-animation-continues-to-save-political-satire-on-tv/%27The+Goode+Family%27%3A+Animation+Continues+to+Save+Political+Satire+on+TV2009-05-28+16%3A37%3A02John+Scott+Lewinski

Defending Wanda — Kind Of

So why is it, that a joke about kidney failure is funny, but a joke about two bullets in an elevator needs an apology? Even though both punch lines suggest death, in the two bullet scenario the victim is a Democrat. Suggesting the Death of a Democrat is a far more serious matter. (I’m also not sure why TWO bullets would be necessary, although my Mom hunted alligators once, and claims that smaller brained animals can withstand more headshots.)

I’m not mad about Wanda Sykes recent diatribe against Rush Limbaugh and other Republicans. Today, you expect this kind of nonsense at the Correspondent’s Dinners. It is modern tradition to spare no mercy for the attendees. Being an edgy comic myself, I often find that the meat is much sweeter when it’s closer to the bone.  Edge comedy means that you are trying to land that punch line so close to the precipice of good taste that it is very likely to fall over. On more than one occasion I have personally felt the plummet after I misjudged where the line stopped. (more…)

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Tags: comedy, Obama, Paul Wellstone, same sex marriage, Wanda Sykes
Posted May 11th 2009 at 3:22 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 1324025 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/05/11/defending-wanda/Defending+Wanda+--+Kind+Of2009-05-11+22%3A22%3A03Tim+Slagle

Scoring Late Night’s First Hundred Days

April 29, 2009. 100 days. In case you were in a sensory deprivation tank, you probably know full well that Wednesday was the 100th day of the Obama Administration, and most of the news shows used it as an excuse to give Him the same exact grade they would have given Him for His first day in office.

That grade is completely unchanged by all the goofs and blunders made by this handsome community organizer, who was rushed into an office that was clearly over His head. Their grade was unbesmirched by the other grades given to Him by Wall Street, the President of France,  the North Korean missile launchers, or by four Somali pirates. (The same pirates who were allowed to humiliate the US Navy for three days before the Commander in Chief gave the order to shoot.)

What a great day to do another Late Night Review, and an opportunity to grade the Nation’s Premiere Satirists on their 100 days. In the time since the last review, we saw not only the aforementioned tense situations; but also an Air Force One flyover that created a panic, one heck of a carbon footprint, and a third of a million dollar addition to the deficit, all for the sake of a pretty photograph.

Certainly there must be something worth making fun of by now. We saw Obama calling for an end to privacy, giving a gag gift the Queen, and a bow to the Saudi King. We learned that He works out three hours a day (no wonder He needs a teleprompter to stay current), and thinks Austrian is a language. He again proved that Harvard isn’t so good at teaching American History, claiming He was only three months old during the Bay of Pigs. No news there, He didn’t think He was in government when the deficit occurred either. (more…)

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Tags: Bill Maher, comedy, Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, jay leno
Posted May 1st 2009 at 1:11 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 1232823 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/05/01/late-night-update-100/Scoring+Late+Night%27s+First+Hundred+Days2009-05-01+20%3A11%3A00Tim+Slagle

The New Spokesperson for Tolerance

Irony is my favorite type of humor. Here’s a great example: while the leftists try to paint conservatives as shallow, small-minded and unwilling to compromise, their most unfunny, close-minded and shrill spokesperson sits for a chat with the ex-ESPN employee who is the least welcome in any MLB locker room.

I caught the love fest of bringing us together and change we can believe in the other night on Olbermann. OK, I didn’t watch it live because I don’t have a very strong stomach. If I watch Mr. Warmth for more than twelve seconds I need to have not eaten for at least seven hours. His guest was alleged comedienne Janeane Garafolo. Why is it that liberal comedians are so unfunny and poorly spoken when they are off script?  Maybe they are just following in Obama’s footsteps. I have liberal friends who swear that she’s some sort of comic genius. She may be but why doesn’t she use her Oscar Wilde/Dorothy Parker razor sharp wit to make her points? Why is name calling and anger her modus operandi? (more…)

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Tags: comedy, Janeane Garafolo, Keith Obermann, MSNBC
Posted Apr 21st 2009 at 10:32 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 110306One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/04/21/the-new-spokesperson-for-tolerance/The+New+Spokesperson+for+Tolerance2009-04-21+17%3A32%3A16Jeffrey+Jena

Everybody Lay off Janeane!

I like her. And yes, she is funny. If you’ve only seen her on political talk shows, you’re going to have to take my word for it.

I did a show with her in NYC the other night, and she was delightful. A small room in the West Village, packed with people, everyone laughing. She’s a comedian, and a good one. I prefer her more personal material to the political stuff, but that’s the way I feel about most comedians. After the show we spoke, and at one point I reminded her that I’m kind of right-wing. “That’s you’re problem,” she said, and then we got back to the friendly talk. We went on to have a great conversation and share some laughs. On a personal level, I always have a good time with her, and you would too. Believe me.

Here’s my point: I sense a little misplaced anger over her comments about the tea parties. It strikes me as a Captain Renault-like expression of shock. In order to take great offense at what she said we have to ignore the fact that the very same thing is said, in more subtle ways, every day. The left never stops accusing the right of racism.

Also, she is not a politician–she is asked to give her opinion on TV because she is blunt and opinionated. Speaking tactfully is not something we should expect of demand from entertainers–in fact, we should encourage just the opposite. I for one can appreciate a good right-wing nut job comedian, who crosses boundaries and says things that other people are thinking, but does it in a way that would be unacceptable for a politician. That is why it is shocking, and that is why it is fun. Maybe not funny, but fun–to the right wingers in the back of the room who are glad that somebody is saying the things that they wish they could say. (more…)

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Tags: comedy, janeane garofalo, shillue, taxes, Tea Party
Posted Apr 20th 2009 at 3:16 pm in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 1107388 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tshillue/2009/04/20/everybody-lay-off-janeane/Everybody+Lay+off+Janeane%21+2009-04-20+22%3A16%3A42Tom+Shillue

Lonewolf Diaries: Only Conservatives Can Be Racists, You Morons…

“Obama looks like a Chimpanzee…” That’s the exact reaction elicited from Liberals in response to Sean Delonas’ recent comic strip in the New York Post. Granted, they prefaced it with, “Conservatives are trying to say…” in an attempt to play off their own prejudice while projecting it onto conservatives. Is anybody out there truly fooled by, or scared of, these blatant attack patterns? What can I say; the liberal playbook is as bland and predictable as a Vin Diesel sequel. “How can we better handle said attacks?” you may be thinking. Oh, Big Hollywood… I’m so glad that you’ve asked. Assemble the troops!

The aforementioned comic was meant to poke fun at the recent shooting of a chimpanzee amidst a chardonnay and Xanax bender in Connecticut, while simultaneously taking a jab at the stimulus bill. Liberals of course took the opportunity to show their consistent obsession with race, while at the same time trying to leverage their PC agenda in an attempt to silence any criticism of the current administration. (more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama Chimpanzee New York Post, Chimp cartoon, comedy, Comedy Central, hollywood
Posted Mar 17th 2009 at 5:03 pm in Lone Wolf Diaries, Media Criticism, Political Humor | 82870133 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2009/03/17/lonewolf-diares-only-conservatives-can-be-racists-you-morons/Lonewolf+Diaries%3A+Only+Conservatives+Can+Be+Racists%2C+You+Morons...2009-03-18+00%3A03%3A19Steven+Crowder

Sarah Silverman Crowd: Too Cool For The Catskills

The other night I did a show at the New York Friars Club. The Friars do a lot of shows for a lot of good causes: to raise school tuition for underprivileged kids in the arts, for charities that help disabled kids, for our returning heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan in the Wounded Warriors Project. I recently had the tremendous honor of performing my stand up act for United States Marines in the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Apparently my act is very motivational – one lance corporal told me afterwards that during my act several marines actually left the theater and volunteered to go back to combat.

The show we did at the club the other night was for an equally momentous, but slightly less altruistic, purpose: it was Mickey Freeman’s birthday. Mickey is an octogenarian, possibly nonagenarian, borscht belt comedian, forever beloved as Private Zimmerman on Phil Silver’s old “Sgt Bilko” show. Mickey is a delightful little guy, if he’s even five foot tall he’s a very short five foot tall, and he can still reel off the rapid-fire classic one liners like a comedy machine (”I worked one hotel that was such a dump, the beds were unmade on the postcard!”). Everybody loves Mickey, and the show was a classic Friars affair: great older comics (like Eddie Lawrence, The Ol’ Philosopher: “What’s the matter, Bunky? Life getting you down?”) mixed in with comics like Ross Bennett, Jackie the Jokeman Martling, and those like me who are, if not quite young, are at least younger. With the younger Friars, our prostates are only slightly enlarged. (more…)

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Tags: borscht belt, brokeback mountain, Camp LeJeune, catskills, comedy
Posted Feb 27th 2009 at 10:17 am in Celebrity News, Media Criticism, Politics | 6847878 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkonig/2009/02/27/searching-for-comedy-in-the-land-of-the-true-beleiver/Sarah+Silverman+Crowd%3A+Too+Cool+For+The+Catskills2009-02-27+18%3A17%3A38Dave+Konig

Return of Bill Hicks: Letterman Right in ‘93, Wrong Today

I did a short interview yesterday with talk show host Marc Germain about my old friend the late, great comic Bill Hicks. You can hear the interview on Marc’s Web Site wwwtalkradioone.com.

The Late Great Bill Hicks

Bill died at age 31 fifteen years ago but is still a cult celebrity among comedy mavens. His last national television appearance was on Letterman’s show. The set was cut due to controversial content. It was aired last Friday by CBS with Bill’s mom making an appearance on the show. Letterman was profusely apologetic about the censorship of the material fifteen years ago. You can watch the set here. (more…)

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Tags: alec baldwin, Bill Clinton, Bill Hicks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Censorship
Posted Feb 4th 2009 at 5:15 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment | 4002668 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/02/04/the-return-of-bill-hicks/Return+of+Bill+Hicks%3A+Letterman+Right+in+%2793%2C+Wrong+Today2009-02-04+13%3A15%3A48Jeffrey+Jena