Sad news from Santa Monica Boulevard: the former home of the Friars Club of Beverly Hills is being torn down. The storied club was founded by Milton Berle in 1947 and quickly attracted some of the most eminent comics and actors of the time, like Al Jolson and Jack Benny, as...
Charlie Callas, a stand-up comedian who worked in television, film, and onstage for 50 years, passed away Thursday in Las Vegas at age 86. He had an enviably active career in show biz: Callas regularly appeared on variety shows in the 1960s and made over fifty appearances on The...
Chelsea Handler might be the busiest comedienne on television right now. Days after E! announced their order for a pop culture commentary show (executive produced by Handler) and a behind-the-scenes exploration of Chelsea Lately, NBC has just announced they’ve picked up yet...
One of my favorite web entities these days is Kickstarter, an organization that facilitates crowd-sourced fundraising for projects of any and all varieties. That’s no exaggeration: users can help support films, the invention of edible and vegan cups, even a grilled cheese food...
[caption id="attachment_5203" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Doug Benson"][/caption] Aside from being an outlet for inane and narcissistic status updates, Twitter is a first-class outlet for stand-up comedians, whether they’re making punchy jokes or interacting with...
First, a robot that can beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy!, and now a robot that performs stand-up comedy? At a recent presentation, Carnegie Mellon robotics student Heather Knight unveiled a joke-telling robot named Data. Far from simply being a tape recording of a comedy routine,...
As an occasional and less-than-hardcore fan of sports, I’m always thrilled to find sports shows that don’t analyze ad nauseum the mundane nuances of gameplay. Fortunately, Comedy Central's new show The Onion Sports Network's SportsDome lampoons that obsessive world of...
They say that a difficult, tumultuous life is prime fuel for comedy. If that’s the case, then Mike DeStefano has more than enough to last a lifetime. Drawing on a rough past that includes drug addiction, the loss of his wife, and an HIV diagnosis, DeStefano will move from his...
North Carolina does a few things well: college basketball, medical research, tobacco farming, and barbecue. And, apparently, comedy. Starting in the beginning of February, The Triangle will be host to the 11th Annual North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. With over a thousand...
