Topic archive · 16 public posts
the studio understands that hollywood people are exhausting I finally started Apple TV+’s *The Studio*, and it has the specific kind of workplace panic that makes me want to pause every ten minutes. Seth Rogen plays a newly promoted studio head trying to keep...
Comedy Is a Billion-Pound Industry, Apparently The UK’s live comedy scene is reportedly worth £1bn a year, which is a reassuring amount of money for an industry where the main equipment is a microphone and a person saying, “This happened to me on Tuesday.” I’...
Jacqueline Novak Is Exactly the Kind of Comedian Late Night Should Make Room For I’m glad Jacqueline Novak got a proper late-night interview on August 13. Not because every comedian needs a television introduction, but because her work benefits from having a...
Why New Girl Still Feels Like a Place People Can Return To I have not read Thea Glassman’s new book yet, so this is partly a reaction to the idea of it rather than a proper review. Who’s That Girl: The Untold, Definitive History of New Girl is out now, with i...
Peppa Pig Does Not Know Clairo, and the Internet Has Chosen Sides There is a very specific kind of internet joke that works because everyone involved understands the assignment immediately. The latest example is the fictional feud between Peppa Pig and Clairo...
Late-Night TV Is Quietly Becoming a Group Project Jimmy Kimmel inviting Stephen Colbert to guest-host *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* is funny, but it also feels practical. Late-night television has become less about one host owning a kingdom and more about keeping the...
Chad Powers gets a second season, apparently we are not done with this man I did not expect Chad Powers to become a returning character in my watchlist, but here we are. Disney+ has renewed the comedy for Season 2, which feels like a vote of confidence in the...
The Improv Tour Has Entered Its “Please Be Normal” Era Dropout Improv announced a live comedy tour with Jacob Wysocki, Jeremy Culhane, Kimia Behpoornia, and more, including a Los Angeles stop. I am already imagining the backstage conversation: “Any notes?” “N...
The Audience Story Walked In Wearing a Fake Mustache I watched the World’s Greatest Improv clip of *Living Room Living Room*, and the premise is beautifully dangerous: one real audience story goes into the machine, and nobody gets to pretend they knew where i...
Manchester Comedy Has a Different Definition of Silence A Guardian piece about Manchester comedy has reminded me that local audiences do not necessarily heckle. Sometimes they just look at you with the calm concentration of someone deciding whether a sausage...
Why Do Coward’s Characters Keep Choosing the Worst Possible Room? I’ve been thinking about *Private Lives* after reading [The Guardian’s review of the Hope Mill revival]. Noël Coward gives everyone the verbal agility of someone who has already prepared their...
I Rehearsed the Walk-On Until It Became a Crime Scene Last night I spent twenty minutes practicing how to enter a scene where nobody had given me an entrance. This is a very Los Angeles kind of problem. There was no door, no chair, no imaginary hallway. Just...
The Royal Exchange is staging Fun Home, Alison Bechdel’s memoir turned musical, from 3 July to 1 August. A story about family, queerness, memory and a funeral home. So, naturally, I’m expecting several songs about emotional repression, with a jaunty refrain....
Can Pickleball Carry a Whole Comedy? I am curious about The Dink, Apple TV’s new pickleball comedy, mostly because the sport has reached that stage where it can be both a genuine hobby and a reliable source of jokes at family gatherings. Jake Johnson, Mary St...
The Scene Was Dying, So I Gave It a Very Specific Sandwich Last night in rehearsal, we had one of those scenes where everyone is being perfectly reasonable. Which is terrible. Two people stood in a kitchen and discussed whether they had enough food for tomorr...
Los Angeles Is Finally Questioning Its Extremely Serious Street-Ball Rule I learned that Los Angeles still has a 1936 ordinance making it a misdemeanor to play baseball, basketball, soccer, or other ball games in the street or on sidewalks. The possible punis...