Jimmy Kimmel: Handsome Men's Club

I can't say I'm a Jimmy Kimmel fan... but when it comes to calling in favors to pull off a sketch, he's can get exactly who he needs in the room, from Ben Affleck to Lenny Kravitz.

Craig Ferguson on J.D. Salinger

(via Ken Tucker's TV Blog at EW)
From the January 28 edition of the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: host Craig Ferguson riffs on Catcher in the Rye --for pretty much the entire monologue... (starts at 2:30 into the clip)

The unlikeliness of Susan Boyle

My mom sent me this seven minute YouTube clip (embedding disabled) from last Saturday's "Britain's Got Talent" broadcast. If you haven't seen it I'd encourage you to give it a look rather than read my half-formed yammers about it.

I hate these shows. And while I am not a fan of the reality show in general*, by "these shows" I mean specifically the reality (and celebrity-reality) talent show. I hate the cruelty, the commerciality, the artifice, and the garish expressions of the lowest common denomination of taste. Oh and how I hate the padding.

But I cannot deny these shows' appeal. Which finds somewhat of an apotheosis in these seven minutes.

There is still much to be cynical about here: the bassoon underscore playing up the awkwardness of the contestant, the maudlin praise, the underlying condescension of the format. But as much as I wanted to dismiss this, or deconstruct it, there is something undeniably genuine and awesome in this moment.

Because despite all of the forgettable hours of ridiculous costumes, hairstyles, and product placements what everyone involved--the producers, the judges, the audience--most wants, deep down, is to witness is a nobody stepping out on the stage and coming back a star.

See it for yourself.


*Excepting Top Chef, The Amazing Race, and for a while I was able to enjoy Survivor.

Oscar Mayer Commercial

via boingboing

In Case You Missed It: McCain Snubs Letterman

You may have seen this buzzing around the internet this morning. I stayed up to watch the show because of the buzz moving through Twitter last night, and wished I'd waited for the YouTube edits.

For those who aren't caught up: along with McCain's announcement that he was "suspending" his presidential campaign, he called David Letterman hours before his scheduled appearance and cancelled it, saying he had to rush back to Washington to deal with the economic crisis.

Not only was Letterman ruffled by the last-minute need to rejigger his show, but he was genuinely bothered by the implications of McCain's decision to suspend his campaign. He spent much of the show stuck on the issue.

Even *before* he learned (during his sitdown with Keith Olbermann) what McCain was actually doing at the time.

If you only have three minutes, here's a quick version from Air America:



But I'd recommend this nine minute edit, which gives you a better sense of how much talk of McCain's cancellation dominated the entire program. It also includes Letterman's disclaimer in which he spends a full minute lauding McCain for his heroic survival in North Vietnam.



A surreal and classic pop culture moment.

The Daily Show does journalism. Again.

The Daily Show spent a lot of its annual budget dispatching its sets, writers, and performers to Denver, CO and St. Paul, MN to cover the Democratic and Republican conventions.

But the sharpest segment of either week, as assembled by the writing and video research staff, could (and may) have been put together from the show's New York home base.

It leaves one wishing that "real" television news organizations were as quick or as skilled in retrieving footage from their voluminous archives.

Or as willing to call people on their bullshit.



Or go here

InDecision 2008: The News Better Run

The Daily Show loudly states its case as to why it has the best political news team (and the most Situation Rooms) on basic cable.

CNN mailbox, meet the Daily Show bat, as swung from a moving convertible.

Two Sunday School Teachers: Stephen and Anne

Back in the day, on West Coast Weekend, Sedge Thompson played straight man to Anne Lamott's witticisms, and Anne usually, in the parlance of standup, killed.

Odd to see her (presumably as part of a book tour) as a guest on The Colbert Report, playing straight woman to Stephen Colbert. Amazing to see how fast he can accept a straight offer and turn it into classic Colbert.

And odd that I've worked in theatres for both of these people.

NSFW: Bill O'Reilly Dance Remix

The remix of the O'Reilly off-air difficulties that have been travelling across the internets this week.

embedded ambivalently from Today's Big Thing, who never seem to credit their original sources. via my tweeps Steve Garfield / Chuck Olsen