Borderline Fantastic » Comedy

Mark Twain Prize: Bill Cosby

Mike — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:34:28 +0000

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.

Here is the list of past winners. That’s some lineup.

Moppo’s Dead

Mike — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:07:30 +0000

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.

Joe Wong on Letterman

Mike — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:14:54 +0000

I don’t get it, but I laughed.

Cookie Monster on Colbert

Mike — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:48:38 +0000

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.

Triumph at The Belmont

Mike — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:23:32 +0000

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog went to the Belmont Stakes. I post this because its great and to see how well Hulu embedded videos work.

Links for June 10

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:35:25 +0000

Carolla did Made Up Movies again yesterday, Part 1 and Part 2. This continues to be my favorite segment on the show, which is really saying something.

David Sedaris on The Daily Show – Enjoyable interview. One of the few people who’s books I will go out and get, then actually read.

Bo Burnham – New Math – New YouTube Song from Bo. I saw him open for Joel McHale.

Chris Bosh on Leno – He reports from the NBA Finals for Leno. The second thing I’ve found funny on Leno in a month, doubling my lifetime total.

Pool Pogo Stick – At first I thought it was funny and worthless. Now, I kind of want one.

Water Slide with Loop – You get started by dropping through a trap door. Something seems dangerous about this.

Pillow Rings – Someone must have gotten tired of having knuckles imprinted on their cheek.

Disney World in 3D – Travel to Disney World inside of Google Earth.

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.

Links for May 1

Mike — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:27:12 +0000

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.

New David Sedaris in The New Yorker. Not my favorite, its all about smoking. Still, its David Sedaris, so its worth reading.

A touching story of a balding penguin.

Photoshopping what each candidate would look like in 4 years.

Police Log from The Daily Collegian. Always one of my favorite parts of the paper, this one doesn’t disappoint.

One of my softball teammates’ man cave was featured on a PSU blog this week.

Some Lists …
Philly is #1 place to live for new grads.

Pittsburgh gets a #1, but for sootiest. Here is the full list.

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.

What I Should Have Said Was Nothing

Mike — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:32:02 +0000

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.