Rolling US Comedy Thread (or what to watch now How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock aren't on?)

Thread title says it all people.

Also a place for people to talk about The Big Bang Theory and shit that isn't deemed worthy of its own thread.

And The Office has finished too.
BBT is nearly finished for this season as well isn't it?

party down is pretty good. produced by paul rudd & has ppl from freaks & geeks and veronica mars in it

ok, so party down also finished. whats-a-going on?

Is 'Nurse Jackie' any good? It starts on BBC2 next week.

It's good, not a comedy though

Can we talk more about comedy here? I thought the Aziz Ansari Comedy Central special was lol'tastic.

i almost got into this on the Funny People thread earlier today, but i don't know about that dude. he seems like probably a good writer and would probably be a fun guy at parties IRL, but acting or doing standup he can't get a laugh out of me.

here's how i would rate the current non-30R/HIMYM network sitcoms:
Community > Better Off Ted > Big Bang Theory > Modern Family > The New Adventures of Old Christine > Scrubs > Two And A Half Men > Accidentally On Purpose > Gary Unmarried > The Middle

I don't find Better Off Ted funny at all.

I don't know what to tell you, shit is hilarious.

I'll give it another try. I'm not opposed to lol'ing at it.

I like Aziz Anzari but I do feel a little weird because I thought his bit about the Cold Stone Creamery in Funny People was supposed to be bad. Then I saw a clip today where he actually used it in his real material on the special and cringed. Still, the other bits I saw of it were good.

I find the Middle kinda amusing, at the very least cuz there's Janitor. Not bad, not great.

I have probably heard the sheets bit like six times, but "If that was a drug deal, I would have shot Hotel Luxury Linens in the face!" still kills me.

haha yeah i totally scratched my head at the Coldstone Creamery thing too, like...the only difference between the 2 bits was a little bit of energy in the delivery.

i sort of want aziz to just give it up and live as randy full-time

anyway like almost every single member of the apatow crew he is going to go from kind of delightful to completely intolerable at lightning speed when he graduates from supporting roles

I loved his bits about his family members, his two cousins.

modern family is uneven, but pretty great

good thread

yall should watch this cartoon that's on FX on thursday nights called 'archer' -- if i had to reduce it i would say it's a cross between 'eastbound & down' -- vulgar and hilarious raunchy -- and 'the office -- takes place in a 'workplace' per se. it's only three episodes in right now and it's getting better each episode. chris parnell does a voice and so does aisha tyler. and the mom from arrested development. jeffery tambor is on this week's episode.

here's the wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_(TV_series)

After its strong showing in the TV of the 00s poll, I decided to check out Gilmore Girls. So I rented the first disc of season 1.
Yeah, I suppose it's pretty good? Really well written, the kind of sharp, snappy dialogue the British TV writers seem incapable of, and a likeable lead character.
It doesn't exactly wear its liberal elite-y bookishness lightly, and, like many a US TV show, it relies on us to find the vastly wealthy in their massive houses to be cute and sympathetic.

Lorelai has great legs tho.

Archer's amusing so far, still feels like a kind of watered down Sealab 2021 (from the same creators) to me. But Jon Benjamin is great as always, I'll probably watch through this season at least.

Better Off Ted > Big Bang Theory > Modern Family > The New Adventures of Old Christine > Scrubs > Two And A Half Men > Accidentally On Purpose > Gary Unmarried > The Middle

I can't watch any of these without getting bored or angry, but I can almost watch Better Off Ted. ALMOST.

Linda is the weak link on Better Off Ted, the show would be a lot more solid without her. Or at least split the normal person/crazy person into two different characters.

AVC: You mentioned the Cold Stone Creamery joke, which people saw in Funny People. But in the movie, it’s Randy being hacky, and on the special, it’s Aziz being funny. Where’s the line?

AA: That was another reason I wanted to put that joke on there. That was an older joke, and when we were first filming the Randy stuff, there was no material written yet—I had to write it. That was one of the first things we filmed, and I hadn’t written any material yet, so I was doing Aziz material and ramping it up. So I thought the Cold Stone joke would be good, because I could act like I’m tweaking and just spin around like an idiot a bunch and try to get a laugh. And then when I was doing the special, I wanted to do the original version of the joke so people could see that. So it was also a way to show that’s how I would do that joke, and that’s how Randy would do that joke. Randy’s version is just spinning around and saying, “I’m tweaking!” for 30 seconds, and Aziz’s version has a few more jokes in it.

anyone besides me watch "Chuck"? Not exactly a sitcom I guess but it never ever fails to cheer me up, and when it's not being funny, it makes up for it by having really well-drawn, likeable and sympathetic characters.

I'm so glad this thread finally took off!

I love Chuck, and I think the "twist" for this season of turning him into a part-time superspy was very smart. Retains the charm of the goofy guy being a spy while actually letting him kick ass every once in a while.

I don't know how long it's been there, but I just noticed today that the first season of SNL is now on Netflix Watch Instantly. And it's amazing.

they also have most of the Best Of comps too, great stuff

I love Chuck, and I think the "twist" for this season of turning him into a part-time superspy was very smart. Retains the charm of the goofy guy being a spy while actually letting him kick ass every once in a while.

yeah and I like that they've balanced off his newfound awesomeness by having SUPERMAN in there now, just so Chuck still comes off as the big dork in the crew.

adam baldwin is my hero though - dude is incredible on this show. no one else makes me lol without saying a word as often as colonel casey does.

SUPERMAN? As in the ACTUAL DC COMIC BOOK GUY or just like Tom Welling?

good thread

yall should watch this cartoon that's on FX on thursday nights called 'archer' -- if i had to reduce it i would say it's a cross between 'eastbound & down' -- vulgar and hilarious raunchy -- and 'the office -- takes place in a 'workplace' per se. it's only three episodes in right now and it's getting better each episode. chris parnell does a voice and so does aisha tyler. and the mom from arrested development. jeffery tambor is on this week's episode.

here's the wiki

― Goon's Anatomy (J0rdan S.), Thursday, January 28, 2010 4:49 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dunno man you're putting it in the context of all this other stuff but to me it's just another diminishing returns Adult Swim show that just happens to not be on Cartoon Network, total Sealab/Frisky Dingo retread.

Brandon Routh xp

xp Yeah, it is kinda true. The extra budget and better voice actors has definitely raised the bar a little, but the scripts and plots are still pretty weak, as well as their lame dependence on toothless "politically incorrect" humor. Sealab is still the best.

Do we have a stand-up comedy youtube thread?

South Park season premiere tonight, followed by new series Ugly Americans, animated by those crazy Superjail guys.

Btw, Archer has actually been getting slowly better over the last month or so, I'm actually kinda glad it got renewed for a second season.

I didn't watch any of the last set of South Park (other than the lol butters as a pimp one)- anything worth catching up on?

It doesn't exactly wear its liberal elite-y bookishness lightly, and, like many a US TV show, it relies on us to find the vastly wealthy in their massive houses to be cute and sympathetic.

^^ this is re: Gilmore Girls -- like, wait, you were on the first season and felt like you were supposed to find Richard and Emily mostly cute/sympathetic?!? kinda surprised there

the first season of that show is basically AUTUMN PORN, kinda relentlessly cosy and golden and leafy

AUTUMN PORN sounds like a great name for an actual porno actress.
that or AUTUMN ST. PORN

Autumn Porn stars in ... SWEAT-HER WEATHER

I wonder if those fetish-to-order video production houses that made final flesh for vernon chatman would make Gilmore Girls-themed videos...

Yeah, the last bunch of SPs were just OK. I guess "Dances With Smurfs" was a slightly amusing one-note Glenn Beck parody.

has South Park made an episode in the last 10 years that wasn't just a slightly amusing one-note parody of a current event or celebrity?

There have been lots of funny episodes in the last ten years! Hell, I'd argue the show didn't even start getting good until a few seasons after the movie came out. Though the overall hit rate is still not that great, and the celebrity stuff is usually the worst.

well, that and the incredibly lazy racism that crops up

well OK slightly amusing is a judgement value but really i just meant seemingly every other episode now is all HEY YOU KNOW THE PERSON/TOPIC/SHOW EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT? HEY LOOK AT ME I'M THE SOUTH PARK PARODY OF IT WOO HOO PLEASE PLEASE LOOK AT ME

xpost

usually they involve jimmy or butters. get an episode based around them and you are on to a winner.

great headline

For those keeping score at home, that's one more renewal than Freaks And Geeks ever received.

Marriage Ref is dorky as fuck and lives or dies based on how good its panel is any given week, but i think it's funny and a good time waster of a show

I just gotta say that between Glee, 30 Rock, Community, Parks + Rec, and Modern Family, I can't remember a time I was laughing hard at so many shows at one time.

If you like all those, you should also be watching Party Down. I agree that it's a good time for comedy right now.

Haven't checked out Party Down yet but it's on my queue. Also forgot to mention, tho it's not airing new eps right now, IASIP.

yeah this season's been really good for sitcoms overall, kinda bummed that summer is almost here and there won't be many new episodes of anything.

i tried watching this new show Romantically Challenged, seemed decent but it was mostly an excuse to stare at Alyssa Milano.

Um, so is there an Archer thread? Cause this show is -- like, really really really funny.

http://www.relapse.com/myspace/BP/BPmyspaceheader.jpg

I'd seen that cover in a smaller version before so I never noticed the comedians that made up the pile of dead - love the prime Russel Brand placement.

Is Mike DeStefano for real?

depends, are you talking about my 8th grade history teacher?

Is your 8th grade history teacher on Last Comic Standing? If so, yes.

So have we talked about the fact that Last Comic Standing is actually funny this summer?

Louie premiere not too bad. I didn't expect to like his sort of relentless pessimism, but it ended up working for me.

plz say it is lj the tv show?

new LCS tonite. who is watching?

Last Comic Standing really is pretty great this year, maybe consistently best slate of competitors I've ever seen on it. was actually disappointed when they narrowed down to only 6 finalists and eliminated a few really funny people.

totally agreed. rooting for Myq Kaplan

The Green Room with Paul Provenza on Showtime is also currently scratching the same itch to watch comedians figure out what is or isn't funny and why xpost

Cool! I'll check it out.

Unrelated, Forward article about Russian Jewish comedians in NY: http://www.forward.com/articles/129106/

A+ suggestion, some dude. The Green Room is excellent.

second impressions on The Green Room - it's pretty hit or miss (the Roseanne ep was, imo, mostly miss), but for what it is (a bunch of comics more-or-less bullshitting about being comedians without prepared material) it's often really entertaining and I lol a few times an episode.

Jonathan Thymius is so freaking funny.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A2y3QZuiL._SS500_.jpg

so when did Cougartown become funny?

Like 6 eps in.

I enjoyed the first taste of Children's Hospital on Adult Swim.

Is Children's Hospital worth the effort? I'm kind of curious.

NBC Thursday night line-up returns tonight w/o Parks and Rec, in its place the horrible looking Outsourced. Not sure if I want to torture myself between 30 Rock and It's Always Sunny.

I've only watched CH three times, but it's too frantic and ridiculous for me. Like the craziest Scrubs flashbacks/dream sequences extended well beyond their welcome.

They're short -- like there's maybe only a couple hours of material altogether so far. Considering that, there's a decent lulz to minute ratio.

CH kinda stinks but sometimes I love it.

The most recent episode of Delocated was the first good one of the season.

did anyone subject themselves to Outsourced? i saw the first three minutes and had to turn it off after the smarmy lead guy said "I'm your best salesman!" like he'd never heard the word "salesman" before.

made it about halfway through before giving up

I watched the whole thing. *shudder*

A popular justification for it around the webz already is "it has Indians in it, so how can it be racist or culturally insensitive to Indians?" And to these people I say, "have you ever heard of minstrel shows?" dam.

yah the previews for that shit kinda testing my "its impossible to replace parks and rec with a worse show" opinion

i can't even believe that show exists tbh

Watching it made me feel so gross.

i liked sepinwall's review bemoaning NBC taking such a step backwards

i really wonder just who NBC thought would be outsourced's target audience. indian-americans would probably be offended by the stereotypes and aren't going to watch it. americans who have had their jobs outsourced to india ... or are under the threat of same ... aren't going to find a show that rubs their fate in their faces very funny and aren't going to watch it. and if it's lame and unfunny, then no-one else will watch it.

i mean, unless they were trying to compete with heil honey i'm home as the most potentially offensive sitcom premise ever ...

childrens hospital has a thread

mad tite imo

really dark http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/american_heroine/