Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. It’s rather a light week, presumably due to the holiday and/or the kickoff of the Toronto Film Festival (which serves as something of a starter’s pistol for the fall movie season), but you can check out the meager pickings after the jump.
Ever fantasize about Eddie Murphy saving you from a burning building? Well, we haven’t, but now that you mention it… We spotted these drool-worthy comic books by Old Red Jalopy over at NextMovie, where they’ve been working on a series of comedian-centric features in support of the first annual Comedy Awards, airing on Comedy Central tomorrow night. Old Red Jalopy has turned some of the most iconic and long lasting figures in American comedic film and television into the stars of their own comic books – and comic book series, we hope – can you imagine Tina Fey’s adventures in Gotham? – spandex jumpsuits and all. These comic books look as though they’ve been loved and revisited for years on end, pressed into the hands of children by their knowing parents, and shoved into backpacks for show and tell – which we think represents the influence of these wonderful comedians pretty well. Click through to see the best superheroes ever.
Opening today in limited release, American: The Bill Hicks Story is an excellent documentary profiling the now-legendary stand-up comic and social satirist. Hicks was very much on the rise when he died of pancreatic cancer back in 1994 (he was only 32); in the years since his untimely demise, his reputation has only continued to grow. Much of that is due to his nine scathingly brilliant comedy albums — seven of them released posthumously, all among the most beloved stand-up discs of recent years. In celebration of his legacy, we decided to take a look at some of the most influential comedy albums of all time; take a look after the jump, and add your picks in the comments.
First, the bad news: tonight’s episode of 30 Rock is a rerun. The good news came earlier this week, on Tom Hanks’s Twitter feed: “RadioMan delivers msg from T.Fey. Result? I’m on 30 Rock! Thanks, RMan Hanx.” Translation: “RadioMan” is Craig Castaldo, a homeless man who frequently pops up in New York-filmed TV shows and films, and is often found outside of David Letterman’s studio. Fey posed for a picture with Castaldo last week, and he apparently somehow brokered the deal for Hanks to make a 30 Rock guest appearance.
30 Rock fans often split on the show’s frequent use of guest stars; some say they’re too reliant on them, while others insist that Fey and her writing staff often find ingenious ways for celebrities to send up their own images or bring their comedic gifts to off-the-wall characters. We lean towards the latter point-of-view (with occasional exceptions — even we weren’t nuts about Jennifer Aniston’s episode). So with an eye on the upcoming Tom Hanks cameo, we took a look back at some of our favorite 30 Rock guest appearances. In the interest of brevity, we restricted ourselves to folks who only appeared once, so you’ll not find recurring favorites like Will Arnett’s Devon Banks, Jon Hamm’s Dr. Drew Baird, or Isabella Rosellini’s Biana Donaghy (“You know I love my big beef ‘n’ cheddar!”). Check out our picks after the jump, and add your favorites in the comments.
Today at Flavorpill, we couldn’t contain our excitement over Community’s upcoming Pulp Fiction-inspired episode — particularly the thought of Shirley as Jules. We were happy to hear that Stephen Colbert’s portrait (which featured “embellishments” by Steve Martin, Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey, and Andres Serrano) had sold at auction for $26,000, with all of the proceeds going to benefit DonorsChoose. We wished that someone would save the Long Island mansion that inspired The Great Gatsby before it’s destroyed to make way for new developments. We got a peek at some footage of Le Tigre playing “Deceptacon” from Kerthy Fix’s forthcoming film, Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour. We saw way too much of Waka Flocka Flame thanks to his scandalous new PETA ad. We took an honest look at our Twitter page, or rather all of the things on Twitter that are driving us insane. We were horrified that Troll dolls, among other children’s toys, have gotten a sexy, modern makeover. We stumbled upon Nicki Minaj’s surprisingly tame yearbook photo. We marked our calendars for September, when a posthumous book from the beloved Shel Silverstein is due to hit shelves. And finally, we read a line-by-line breakdown of David Foster Wallace’s “Backbone” edits — or rather, we vowed to do so as soon as we can find the time/focus.
Congratulations are in order for Patton Oswalt: in addition to being one of our favorite working stand-up comedians, he is now officially a New York Times bestselling author. His book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is a surprisingly sophisticated piece of work. This comes as a surprise not due to its particular author — Oswalt’s magazine pieces and routines are peppered with enough obscure literary references to indicate a guy who’s read a book or two — but because of the rather lowly reputation of the stand-up book in general.
It goes back to Bill Cosby. In 1986, with The Cosby Show at the height of its considerable success, the good doctor of comedy made a deal with Doubleday to write a book. The resulting volume, Fatherhood, was a slim text that consisted primarily of material very familiar to fans of his 1983 concert film Bill Cosby: Himself. The book was basically a transcription of his act. Didn’t matter; it was a huge bestseller, and the quickie stand-up book was born. No need to actually “write” a “book” — just adapt your stand-up material into book form! Type it up, maybe grab a thesaurus to change some of the slang to bigger words, and viola! Instant bestseller.
Before there was The Bachelor or Dismissed, before Flavor Flav had given out his first clock to a gaggle of adoring scantily-clad ladies, before ____ of Love became a go-to formula, there was The Dating Game. Starting in 1965, The Dating Game and The New Dating Game planted the seeds of what would become the modern reality dating show — there was the sassy bachelorette, the suitors vying for her attention, the winking double entendres, and, of course, the celebrity guest appearance. From a pre-fame Steve Martin to young Michael Jackson, a host of celebrity guests stopped by during its heyday. Alas, many of the show tapes were erased (as was the standard in the day) but some of the hilarity has been preserved via some killer YouTube clips. Check out the best of them after the jump.
After last week’s talk at the 92nd Street Y, Steve Martin was probably planning to avoid discussing all things art-related when he visited The Colbert Report last night. But Stephen Colbert was actually interested in tapping his expertise. In fact, he asked the actor and noted art collector to valuate a portrait of himself. When the original appraisal was a mere $19, Colbert brought out several famous art world guests to provide their take — and in some cases, revisions. Click through to watch Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey, and Andres Serrano in action.
1. In his first on-camera interview since the release of The Social Network on 60 Minutes last night, Mark Zuckerberg revealed details about the new look of your Facebook profile. Watch it here here.
2. Were you one of the 75 people who watched Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum play a very rare surprise show at a Bushwick loft space called The Schoolhouse on Saturday night? If not, check out some audio clips here. [via The Measure]
3. George Lucas may be trying to digitally resurrect dead actors in order to have them all star in a movie together. [via Collider]
4. “Now let me try to answer the question you might be asking yourself at this point: was I boring? Yes, I might have been. In hindsight, I probably should have read a few pages from my book to give the audience a feel for it, and I did struggle with a few explanations. But I was not lazy and neither was Deborah. We were both working very hard at our task.” – Steve Martin responds to ArtWorldInterviewgate
5. Tumblr went down yesterday afternoon, and it’s still down now. So, what are we supposed to do with our day? [via The Next Web]
Bonus link: 15 egregious MPAA screw-ups
Acting and writing are not so different. Both require discipline, facility with language, and the ability to disappear into a world that is not quite reality. And with more credibility than the all-too-frequent actor/musician vanity crossover, the actor-as-author subset has its own self-congratulatory cachet. With a slew of new books by better known screen personalities hitting stores this fall, here’s a tribute to ten thespians who have taken on the literary arena.
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