Category Archives: Comedy

Seeing white

Much was made of the movie Bridesmaids last year.  Finally a film led by a cast of women that was both funny and financially successful.

Now, here comes Bachelorette.

It also has a strong female cast.  And the story centers on a wedding, specifically on a bachelorette party that — for a variety of reasons — really doesn’t happen.  And it’s funny….very funny.

But this movie gets a lot of its funny from its complete role reversal.  The women are strong, coarse ball-busters.  The men in their lives are warm, emotional and supportive.

Not your typical rom-com.

It makes me wonder if this movie was originally written for male leads and then re-cast after Bridesmaids was such a huge hit.

A copycat idea?  I know it’s hard to imagine coming from Hollywood, but yeah…

I think I’ve seen that white dress before.

Here come the players

After what has seemed like an endless hiatus, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is back tonight (or early in the morning) with new shows in their brand-spanking-new studio.  I’m really excited.

You know who’s not excited?

CBS.

Craig likes to joke that the CBS brass don’t know he’s on the air.  That he can get away with the nonsense that he does because they simply don’t have a clue that there is a show on after David Letterman. It’s funny schtick.

I’m starting to believe him.

Tonight’s new Late Late Show is going to be broadcast from his shiny new studio — a studio that was part of Craig’s two-year contract renewal.  One might assume this cost CBS a little bit of pocket change.  So you’d think they might want to promote the event.

A little.

But to date, I have seen nary a promo on TV.  Nothing in print.  Even CBS.com doesn’t mention it, not even on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson page.

Pitiful.

Come to think of it — I did get a tweet yesterday.

But I think it was from someone like me, anxious for the shows to begin.

The whole universe…

So this happened yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mars Rover team visited the set of The Big Bang Theory
for their taping last night.

I join geeks everywhere in being equally excited that…

  • real scientists joined forces with TBBT clique, and
  • they’re taping new episodes.

Hurry up, fall season!  Bring on the new shows!!

Dead heading

We’ve all sat next to a ‘live one’ on an airplane.

You know, that passenger who just won’t stop talking — who’s super psyched about life. Perhaps it’s their first time flying…or they’re on vacation (instead of business like you). And they simply won’t be quiet.

At that very moment — wouldn’t you trade them for a corpse?

A Swedish woman didn’t have a choice.  She sat next to an honest-to-goodness dead body during her entire 10-hour flight to Tanzania.

He was alive when he boarded, but began to have convulsions and passed away soon after take-off.  There were no other seats available, so the poor woman was stuck with her now silent seat partner until the plane landed.

I know it sounds creepy.  And all my sympathies go out to the deceased man’s family and friends.  But ya gotta admit — there are advantages to sitting next to a dead man.

  1. No talking.  If there is, he ain’t dead.
  2. No sharing the arm rest.  The flight attendant can position him to give you maximum room in the row.
  3. No getting up to let him go to the bathroom. (This assumes the corpse is seated next to the window.  That’s where I’d put him.)
  4. All magazines are fair game. Is your crossword puzzle filled in?  Use the corpse’s!  I don’t think he’ll mind.
  5. More drinks and snacks for you. Take an extra Diet Coke and warmed nuts when the flight attendant passes by.  Just be sure to raise your glass in memory of the corpse.

He’s made your flight extra special.

Banana bats

Is it time for another blog post on Craig Ferguson?

I think so, yes.

CraigyFerg (as he is known on Twitter) was chatting it up with his followers yesterday when Spellchek corrected his Latin entry to read “primate nocturnal”…which led Craig to the inevitable inspiration –

Vampire Monkeys

People suggested names.  (Orangutangula and VanHelchimp were Craig’s favs.)  He even chatted it up in his monologue last night.   And today?

It. Is. Risen.

And strangely enough, looks a lot like Craig.

It’s a great day for America, everybody.

 

Name callin’

Did you know that if you Google the term ‘old maid,’ you get photos of Bette Davis?

That’s rather unexpected.

Apparently the screen legend was in a movie called The Old Maid in 1939.  (I feel better not remembering it.)

In the film, an ex-lover arrives on her wedding day and “sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin’s lives forever.”

Hmmm…wonder who ends up being the old maid in this scenario?  I ask because according to the calendar, today is Old Maid’s Day.

That’s right.

I am tickled by the idea, the phrasing and now the discovery that there is a movie of the same name.  Might need to rent it to pay the proper homage to this oh-so-archaic of holidays.

But hey, if the shoe fits…

Trading places

Celebrities — they’re just like us.

Not. Even. Close.

While watching reruns on television last night — yes, it’s that very sad time of year — I was treated to not one but two commercials that referenced Alec Baldwin’s infamous inflight meltdown.

You remember — he was playing Words with Friends after the plane door had closed and had a very heated exchange with the American flight attendants.  Then a very heated Twitter tirade about same.

Then he closed his Twitter account.

Months later, his Twitter is open.  He even made fun of the account on a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live.  And now not only Capitol One has referenced the incident in their latest ad — starring Baldwin, of course — but also a commercial highlighting the inventors of…

Words with Friends.

Yep, stuff like that happens to me all the time when I have travel mishaps.

Not. Even. Close.

Stylin’

Bill Murray is cool.

Part of what makes him cool is the distance he maintains from the public and the press. Which means no autographs. Which can make him seem rather uncool to some.

Well, look what he did in lieu of an autograph for filmmaker David Walton Smith.

 

Coolest dude on the planet.

Can’t wait to see what he does in Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson’s new movie that opened yesterday.

Bet it’s cool, too.

Any questions?

There is one word that immediately invokes my ire. Makes me see red.  And I admit my response is a bit unreasonable.

“Thoughts?”

I don’t know why I have such a negative knee-jerk reaction to the phrase.

Maybe because it’s not a phrase at all. 

You’re asking me a question — you want my input, my point of view, my expertise — but the very question is so non-committal, so throw-away.

Like you can’t be bothered to ask me a question with any nuance or…

WORDS.

Or maybe you don’t want to reveal your hand before I lay my cards on the table.  Well, it didn’t work this time, did it??

You see, I can read a lot into one word of conversation.

I’m a girl.

Broadway Harry

Potted Potter, the parody of the seven Harry Potter books now on Broadway, was tailor-made for kids.

It’s only 70-minutes long, is super high energy, and even features a quidditch match with audience participation.

 

No wonder I liked it so much.

Brits Dan Clarkson and Jeff Turner, who also wrote the show, bring all the characters to life with minimal props, costumes and staging.  The humor is decidedly British as well, but Potter lovers — and the family and friends who they drag along — will find it easy to translate.

Obviously some plot points are skipped in such a short synopsis, but the ones that made the cut are treated with high hilarity.  Favorites include Lord Voldemort, the dragons from book four, and the bigger-than-life quidditch snitch.

Dan and Jeff cracked up a few times during the show, but the reason was pretty obvious –

They are as wild about Harry as the audience.