"It’s really simple. I just want as many guys as possible who have an opinion about how they see women treated in culture whether it’s an observation about the news or speaking up about how they feel when their wife comes home and tells him about an instance of gender discrimination." - Comedian Jen Kirkman
on why she started
MA'AM: Men Against Assholes & Misogyny.
posted by mokin
on Dec 2, 2012 -
53 comments
For a time,
Max Linder was considered the greatest of film
comedians. Star of over 500 films (examples,
1,
2), inventor of the
mirror gag, he was arguably the first film star. His life changed forever when he fought on the front lines in World War I, surviving three serious wounds, including a
gas attack. Thereafter, he began bouts of depression. In 1925, he talked his new bride into a
suicide pact, dying on Halloween.
[more inside]
posted by dances_with_sneetches
on Jul 3, 2012 -
11 comments
Comedian Mike DeStefano has died of a heart attack at 44. DeStefano told wrenching tales from his life as a recovering drug addict, like the MOTH monologue in the title link, which begins with a very bad day he had while caring for his wife as she was dying of AIDS (NSFW language).
[more inside]
posted by itstheclamsname
on Mar 8, 2011 -
24 comments
Actor, Playwright, Artist, Comedian, Magician, "Man of A Thousand Voices" (including Mighty Mouse,) "Beloved Herring Maven"
Mr. Ira Stadlen (Stage name: "
Captain" Allen Swift) has
passed away at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Mr. Stadler voiced characters in more than 30,000 television and radio commercials, as well as cartoons such as
Underdog,
Tom and Jerry and
Diver Dan, but some might remember him most as the man who saved
Howdy Doody. His nephew
has posted a remembrance on his blog, which includes a link to a "novelty 45" mp3 recording of Swift's
"Are You Lonesome Tonight."
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Apr 28, 2010 -
13 comments
Comedian and activist,
Mark Thomas, has been touring the UK over the past year, compiling a set of policies that his audiences want to see implemented in Britain. As part of the publicity for the resulting book,
The People's Manifesto, his publishers are offering to pay one lucky applicant's £500 deposit and campaign expenses to stand for public office at the upcoming general election, on the condition that they will base their campaign on the policies gathered in
the book.
[more inside]
posted by idiomatika
on Feb 9, 2010 -
35 comments
Russell Brand talks to Dawn French about comedy, revealing a peculiar and compelling intelligence apparently gleaned from TV and substance abuse. Part
1,
2,
3,
4 [YT]
posted by mhjb
on Nov 5, 2009 -
14 comments
Dennis Wolfberg was one of the most distinctive voices (literally) from the stand-up comedy boom of the early 90s. A former schoolteacher, he became a fixture on the fledgling network Comedy Central roughly fifteen years BCM (Before Carlos Mencia). His vocal style and inflections had a way of selling the most outlandish comparisons. He was a guest on both Letterman and Carson, and had guest-starred as Gooshie on
Quantum Leap on multiple occasions until he tragically died from cancer in 1994. Some of his most memorable routines were his
experience with Fiber One cereal and encounter with a sigmoidoscope,,
his wife's pregnancy and
his twins' Bris. His HBO special is available in its entirety on YouTube:
part 1 -
part 2 -
part 3 (most of part 3 linked above).
posted by JHarris
on Aug 8, 2009 -
26 comments
Virtual Vaudeville [shockwave] Watch a 3D simulation of legendary comedian Frank Bush in a vaudeville performance from a variety of perspectives. Switch between any of eight perspectives at any time and read the extensive hypermedia notes to gain a richer understanding of the performance in its historical context.
posted by tellurian
on Sep 4, 2008 -
11 comments
Jerry Clower (
Wikipedia article) started telling his funny stories to boost sales when he was a seed and fertilizer salesman. He went on to become a successful comedian and Grand Ole Opry star.
[more inside]
posted by Daddy-O
on Aug 7, 2008 -
16 comments
Lost in translation. British Comedian Stewart Lee explores comedy in Germany and finds it stymied by the peculiarities of language and sentence construction. Mark Liberman at Language Log
disagrees. And an extended essay by Josh Schonwald explores in greater depth how the
German comedy scene is transitioning (PDF) from the more traditional kabernett to a burgeoning stand-up comedy scene, which is characterized by one observer as being in "the Bob Hope phase of comedy."
posted by madamjujujive
on May 26, 2006 -
72 comments
"You people are stupid."
That's what
Dave Chappelle had to say to a crowd of 4000 plus
after he had walked off the stage in Sacramento in protest.
What got the comic so riled up? According to Chappelle, it was audience members who wouldn't "shut up and listen - like you're supposed to." Chappelle then went on to vent his frustration on the success of his
TV Show and the extra
attention it has brought him.
Chappelle's harshest words thou were addressed to those audience members who worship entertainers and athletes.
"Stop listening to celebrities," he said. "They do what they do for money - that's all. I don't even know why you're listening to me. I've done commercials for both Coke and Pepsi. Truth is, I can't even taste the difference, but Pepsi paid me last, so there it is."
posted by Dreamghost
on Jun 22, 2004 -
103 comments
A very good tribute from the Guardian regarding the life and legacy of philosopher-comedian Bill Hicks.
It is compelling and significant that the final words on Hicks's last record, Rant In E-Minor, are a prayer: "Lift me up out of this illusion, Lord. Heal my perception, so that I may know only reality."
posted by moonbird
on Feb 16, 2004 -
93 comments
Give It Up For The Axis Of Evil Tour Ahmed Ahmed travels a lot. Just the other day, says the heavily bearded Egyptian, he was at the airport. An older couple waiting for a flight came over and asked him where he was headed.
"I told them, 'I have a one-way ticket to Paradise,' " he says. Pause for laughter.
Yup, he says, airports are tough for him right now. They are for everyone, he adds. Nobody likes having to get there an extra hour early or being delayed by all the extra security. But just to make sure, he says, "I get there a month and a half early."
posted by turbanhead
on Feb 21, 2003 -
18 comments
oh look. it's chris rock impersonator, chris tucker, up to his old tricks again. ha ha... such a kidder that guy.
posted by xmattxfx
on Dec 9, 2002 -
39 comments
The
Johnny Carson website, where many episodes are for sale on VHS. Bad news: It will cost me about $3,000 to collect all the
Albert Brooks appearances. This week they're playing a (quicktime) monologue from 1977. Anybody else got the warm fuzzies for Johnny?
posted by luser
on Aug 19, 2002 -
13 comments
"My body has learned that it can fly." Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) describes his experience in zero G, riding the "vomit comet" - a bare-bones 747 that goes up really fast and then comes down really fast, leaving you weightless for about 30 seconds. His letter is at time hilarious, at times pretty gross (they don't call it the vomit comet for nothing), but most of all, I found it kind of... well, inspiring. Now, more than ever, I want to go into space and experience zero G. (via
memepool)
posted by RylandDotNet
on Jun 22, 2001 -
17 comments
USA's new popular export: Their ignorance. A comedian who specializes in political and cultural satire, Mercer's most popular schtick is "Talking to Americans" -- a "Candid Camera"-esque routine in which he travels the United States asking people ridiculous questions to exploit their ignorance about their northern neighbor.
posted by adnan
on May 28, 2001 -
57 comments
