By Aaron Gell 4/12 8:40am

Nightlife

9 Photos

Veep Premiere

Vice Squad: Ray Kelly, Bill Keller & Fran Lebowitz Hit the Premiere of Veep

Armando Iannucci’s new HBO series Veep, which premiered on Tuesday night at the Time Warner Center, looks like a winner—more Biden than Bentsen. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the shaky-cam comedy is to the West Wing what a bucket of Popeye’s is to a bowl of flax-dusted Brussels sprouts (less wholesome but considerably tastier).

During the cocktail hour preceding the screening, the premise of the show gave us an excuse to ask everyone : Who is your favorite vice president? Fortunately, guests were in a festive and charitable mood. No doubt they were already anticipating the post-screening filet mignon awaiting them at Porter House.

“You know what? I’ve never been asked that before,” Fran Lebowitz replied when we tracked her down in a corner of the 10th-floor reception area. “That’s a great question.” She thought a little. “Well, there was Johnson, and he became the president. Which is why you can’t nominate someone like Sarah Palin.” Read More

By Rex Reed 4/10 7:30pm

movies

Ritter and Bosworth in L!fe Happens.

L!fe Happens: A One-Night Stand, Multiple Orgasms and a Lifetime of Finding Mr. Right

To the new trend of female-empowerment comedies written, produced, directed by and starring tough, ambitious, talented women, add Kat Coiro’s L!fe Happens. I liked Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends With Kids better, because it made more of an attempt to include men in the love, sex and parenthood equation. In L!fe Happens, the women do everything on their own. Almost. So far, I don’t know of any women who serve as the sole contributors to their own sperm banks. Still, as a riff on the perils of single motherhood, L!fe Happens and Friends With Kids would make a keen double feature. Read More

By Drew Grant 4/03 4:29pm

Female Comedy

Lee Aronsohn's PMS attack (Getty Images)

Two and a Half Men Co-Creator Only Ironically Whining About ‘Labia Saturation’ in Comedy

Lee Aronsohn, showrunner, executive producer, and co-creator of Two and a Half Men, is nobly trying to take up the torch of blatant misogyny in the face of the crisis currently faced in comedy: women and their labia. As we all know, there has been a dearth recently of men yelling about how not funny women are ever since Christopher Hitchens passed away and Eddie Brill was fired from Letterman, but Mr. Aronsohn is obviously up to the challenge. (And should have extra time on his hands after his show dies.)

But Sunday while talking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, Mr. Aronsohn, who knows comedy when he sees it (which is why Two and a Half Men is the most critically lauded piece of humor writing around and is doing really well these days) just laid it all on the line re: his feelings about the comedic ability of ladies who talk about their gross, disgusting vaginas. He applauds them, but also thinks that it’s time to move on, you know? Read More

By Drew Grant 2/07 8:30am

Menace to Society

From bit girl to "It" girl

Menace to Society: The Observer’s Resident Socialite-in-Training Masters Her Stage Fright

I used to love performing on stage. Loved it. Since I obsessively listened to musicals, I was pretty sure that I had the perfect voice for showbiz. So it never made sense to me that I was always relegated to the far-far background in middle school productions of The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees after trying out for the leads.

It was especially baffling after my parents had spent money sending me to northeast Maryland’s finest summer programs.

It wasn’t much better when it came to non-musicals. (I think one time the teachers at my summer camp were forced to make up a role in Romeo and Juliet that required no talking just to keep me in the production. I was the Apothecary’s Assistant.)

But never mind that—I knew I was good at acting. I was the loudest, wasn’t I?

Read More

By Foster Kamer 1/27 5:04pm

FUNNY PEOPLE

Video

300

Video: James Murphy, Trapped Between Two Terrible, Hilarious, Aging Hipsters in a Taxi

DFA Records’ co-founder and retired LCD Soundsystem bandleader James Murphy has always exhibited a certain stripe of self-awareness that other musicians could probably take lessons from. In one of two films to feature Mr. Murphy at this year’s Sundance Film Festival—the other one being the documentary about his band’s final concert—he has a cameo role as a guy stuck between two obnoxious, aging hipsters in a taxi. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/27 3:33pm

Comedy

John Mulaney talks "Law and Order"

Saturday Night Live Writer John Mulaney has More Thoughts on Law & Order (Video)

The first time we were introduced to New York comedian John Mulaney, it was through his stand-up bit about the reoccurring characters on Law & Order. (The best line, about bartenders who remember everyone:  “Which New York do you work in? I live with people I don’t recognize!)

Now Mr. Mulaney, one of the writers of Saturday Night Live (and creator of Stefon!) has a new special premiering on Comedy Central this weekend. Much to our delight, he previewed some of the material on Conan this week, including another riff on Dick Wolf’s never-ending series–this time tackling everyone’s favorite rapey spin-off, Special Victims Unit–as well as one of the show’s stars, Ice-T. This is must-see TV, people. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/25 5:38pm

viral videos

"Randall" from the Honey Badger series (TMZ.com)

Does Randall Exist? Meet the Man Behind the Honey Badger Phenomenon (Video)

Last week were shocked to learn that our favorite viral video of 2011, “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (Narrated by Randall),” was not, in fact, the creation of a man named Randall. According to a press release about a new animated project based on the YouTube series, the man behind the Randall videos was actually named Christopher Gordon.

So we were very confused by this TMZ video interview with the purported “Randall” (no last name given), who looks like an extra from Boogie Nights. Is this Mr. Gordon’s alter-ego? Or does Randall actually exist? Read More

By Drew Grant 1/10 1:38pm

Miss New York

Miss New York Contestant Creates World’s Best Pageant Application Video

Meet Laura Hajek from Glenn Falls Glens Falls, New York. This weekend, she will be competing with approximately 100 other young women at SUNY Purchase for the title of Miss New York. If she wins, she'll be one step closer to becoming the next Miss USA.

While most girls vying for the title have put up online videos displaying their many...shall we say...assets?...Ms. Hajek--whom we found via Reddit-- went in a different direction; creating a hilarious piece of performance art involving an interview with a giant puppet talk show host asking the kind of questions you'd really like to hear during one of these shows. (Example: "What's your favorite Lou Reed album, and don't say Transformer, because that's so said."
(more...)

By Drew Grant 11/23/11 9:00am

Comedy

The Ladies of 'Broad City'

FX Gambles On Web Comedy ‘Broad City’ Starring…Yes…Women (Video)

Congrats to Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the Upright Citizen Brigade alums whose web show Broad City is now in development talks for an FX pilot. This is no small part due to both the girl’s hilarity and its major endorsement by UCB founder Amy Poehler.

Now, if only there was a way to talk about this show without immediately pigeonholing it as part of the new “Women are funny too!” push on the part of cable programers–The New Girl, Whitney, and 2 Broke Girls all come to mind– while still recognizing these comedians as the growing contingent of recognizable, hilarious female comedians.

…Nope. Too difficult. How about we just watch the trailer instead, which features Ms. Poehler along with NYC comediennes like Andrea Rosen, Adira Amram, and Kristen Schaal? Read More