Breaking news on the biggest thing in television this summer–and no, it’s not the True Blood premiere where Sookie totally gets down with a blood-soaked Billith.
As you should already know, Daily Show correspondent John Oliver will be taking the reins from Jon Stewart this summer so that the super handsome (it’s not just us!) Read More
In the kind of grand-scale symbolism achievable only in this great city of ours, ordinary folks throughout Manhattan might have surmised from the Empire State Building being gussied up in blue, with red and white on the tippy-top (cop car, siren), that the swells who support the New York City Police Foundation were putting on Read More
His TV show’s set, his smile and even his hair look just like Jon Stewart’s. But Egyptian television host Bassem Youssef’s rights couldn’t be more different.
On The Daily Show on Monday night, Mr. Stewart came to the defense of his Middle Eastern alter-ego, host of the Egyptian satirical TV news show Al Bernameg (“The Read More
Last Wednesday night, at around 8 p.m., the Transom spotted celebrity chef Mario Batali ambling through the Museum of Modern Art in his bright orange Crocs. But he wasn’t here to see the Munch exhibition. He was en route to the New York premiere of A Place at the Table, a somber new Read More
In beguiling Gen. David Petraeus, biographer Paula Broadwell joins a select group of ambitious female scribes who have run away—literally—with their subjects.
Ms. Broadwell seduced the exercise-mad general in Afghanistan when she proved she could match his six-minute miles. She sealed the deal with a finished piece of hagiography called—no snickering now—All In, which she then went on to flog in evening dresses that revealed biceps to rival Michelle Obama’s.
Ms. Broadwell is in hiding now, but she’s in good company.
Female scribes may be at a disadvantage when it comes to good assignments and pay, but they enjoy certain benefits vis-à-vis male egomaniacs. Read More
It’s hard to believe Jon Stewart has time to spare before the presidential election, but for the fourth year running, he’s hosting his Night of Too Many Stars benefit, an apolitical gathering devoted to raising money for autism research. Funny people (Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Seth Rogen, Jerry Seinfeld) and, Read More
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Since the launch of Between Two Ferns on FunnyOrDie.com in 2008, people have been clamoring for Zach Galifianakis and Scott Aukermanto turn their short-form experimental interview project into a 30-minute television show. (We certainly wouldn’t have minded if Mr. Galifiankis’ awkward, confrontational interrogations of celebrities replaced the majority of television interviews.)
Before watching last weekend’s Comedy Central’s Comedy Awards, fans of Between Two Ferns finally got a taste of what a 30 minute episode of the show would be like, in the form of Between Two Ferns: A Fairytale of New York. Read More
The Colbert Report suspended production for at least two nights, comedy blog Third Beat reports, scheduling reruns for yesterday’s and today’s programs, which had previously booked Claire Danes and Susan Cain.
Producers sent a note to audience members yesterday apologizing for the last-minute cancellation and citing “unforseen circumstances.” Read More
On a recent post-NFL season Monday night, 7.3 million people watched a remake of Hawaii 5-0. Another 6.7 million watched Castle, a crime procedural that’s safely avoided buzz for four seasons. A crowd less than half that size, 3.2 million, watched an American furniture manufacturer tearfully repent for outsourcing the family business, met a real-life moon colonist, and saw a chimpanzee flip through a children’s book. “They like to look at the pictures,” the voiceover explained.
They had landed on the three-month-old newsmagazine Rock Center, NBC’s prime time bid to recapture an audience for TV news by offering a looser format in which to showcase Brian Williams’s formidable charisma. Mr. Williams’s sensibility is so deeply ingrained in the programming that Rock Center executive producer Rome Hartman likes to say that, when it’s working, it feels like “Brian’s playlist.” Read More
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Bad news first: Stephen Colbert has put an end to his bid for president of South Carolina by disbanding his exploratory committee, as he announced last night.
Good news: He can now regain power of his super PAC, after running through a messy gauntlet with its current gatekeeper (but in no way associate) Jon Stewart.
Even better-best news: According to an F.E.C. filing made at 12:01 this morning, the political action committee–which during the regime change two weeks ago renamed itself “The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC” but has since returned to its “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow”…though it’s easier to just say Colbert’s Super Pac–has raised $1,023,121.24. Read More
