On PBS this week they aired the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor which was presented to Bill Cosby. If you have a chance to watch it, do it. It’s outstanding. Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and a bunch of others pay tribute to Cosby. They mixed in a lot of clips from his standup and tv work. This is the audio of his Chocolate Cake bit which was shown during the show.
I didn’t think it was possible but after watching this I’m even more excited to see him perform in May.
Larry King was on Kimmel last week. Jimmy really wanted him to tell this story. That’s a winning idea on two fronts: it was a funny story and it took up a whole segment where Larry King might have talked about anything else.
I could post from Colbert everyday. Here he reports about fruit passing cookies as the most popular snack for children under 6. Logically he blames Cookie Monster, now that he is advocating healthy food and cookies as only a sometimes food.
You’ve Been Left Behind – Worried that you won’t get to say good-bye to your loved ones after you’ve been raptured. This site will email what you have stored on the site to who you select within 6 days of the rapture. How do they know the rapture has occured? Here is what they say: “This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.” Oh, and its not free. $40 for the first year but they expect a lot of signups so future years should be cheaper.
I saw Joel McHale last week. Bo Burnham opened for him. I thought he was very good. He sings lots of odd songs and is only 17.
I was browsing the iTunes Podcast Directory looking for some new ones to listen to. I wound up adding a bunch of NPR podcasts. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is the best of the bunch. Its weekly, on Saturdays, look at news items from the past week with a sense of humor.
Top 50 comedy sketches. #50 is cowbell. So either the list is terrible or there are about 40 hilarious sketches I’ve never seen.
Top 50 TV Shows of All Time – See how far you get until you have to stop because you realize the list is worthless. I got to #49. Then I flipped to #48 and they redeemed themselves.
Last night was Comedy Central’s premiere of Mike Birbiglia’s special, What I Should Have Said Was Nothing. It was on at midnight. Midnight? Usually specials are put on Sunday nights in some prime spot. If its a Comedy Central Presents that will be on Saturday Night at 10. This was his own special. It is Comedy Central so I hope they replay it constantly so that everyone gets to see it.
I’m a fan of Mike Birbiglia’s blog, which he calls his Secret Public Journal. On occasion I hear him as a radio guest reading those posts. He has the type of delivery that after you hear him read a few of them you start to pick up his style when reading them on your own. His delivery might not catch you right away if you happen to come across him on TV. Give it a shot, its worth it.
I also like his routine because he makes me think, ‘Hey, I have some stories, will people pay me to tell them?’ His stories aren’t ridiculous or obscene. A lot are about his family or odd situations he’s been in. Then he became popular so now he has stories about places he’s preformed or his celebrity status. If it only were as easy as he makes me think it is.
