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How many times have comedy writers taken script notes from studio execs and thought, "Have you ever tried to create something funny?" Watch as New Regency SVP Navid McIlhargey does just that in his stand-up comedy club debut he has given me permission to share with you:
Andre Meadows of the site Black Nerd Comedy breaks down why Lost and Heroes hate black people. He makes a pretty compelling argument:
EXCLUSIVE: Ron Howard is setting Kevin James to play Vince Vaughn’s best friend in the untitled Universal Pictures comedy about infidelity. The film is Howard’s next directing vehicle from a screenplay by Allan Loeb. Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer are prepping a spring start in Chicago. Kevin and Vince will play best friends and business partners, and Vaughn is tortured when he observes his pal’s wife getting intimate with another man. Should he tell? The comedy came from an idea by Grazer, who’ll produce with Vaughn and the actor's Wild West Picture Show banner. Imagine’s Kim Roth is executive producer. The buddy system has made for a nice transition for James after his long-running TV sitcom King of Queens. He paired with Will Smith in Hitch and Adam Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. After carrying Paul Blart: Mall Cop, he re-teamed with Sandler in Grown Ups and plays the title role in the MGM comedy The Zookeeper. Scripter Loeb has been writing about all forms of cheating, with recent credits that include the card-counting drama 21, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, and now this infidelity comedy.
According to one Hollywood agency's stats so far this year, 33 comedy pilots have been picked up by CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX. Only 3 are written by women. And 36 drama pilots have been picked up by CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox. Only 6 are written by women. This is being called "the worst year in a decade" for female writers and showrunners. "'Created By' is a credit where the money and power is -- and women are being denied it," one source keeping track tells me. "Nina Tassler, Les Moonves, Christina Davis, Steve McPherson, Susanne Patmore, Channing Dungey, Angela Bromstead, Kevin Reilly, Peter Rice need to comment on why they all gave women the sack this year."
(Journalist Diane Haithman is covering the Television Critics Association confab for Deadline Hollywood.)
ABC Entertainment honcho Steve McPherson announced at the top of his Television Critics Association executive session that ABC has picked up early its strongest Wednesday comedy line-up shows The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town for the next 2010-2011 primetime season.
(Mike Fleming's not going to be up and running for a few days yet. But he confirmed this major scoop and wanted to share it with Deadline Hollywood.)
Tom Hanks must have gotten along spectacularly well with Julia Roberts on Universal's Charlie Wilson’s War. Because he has written a new film for them to star in together. He's also going to direct it. Hanks and Roberts will re-team in Larry Crowne, a comedy that will begin production April in Los Angeles. The financing and distribution details are still coming together, and I’ll provide those as soon I confirm how CAA has packaged it. Gary Goetzman, Hanks’s Playtone partner, is the producer.
I’m told that Hanks will play the title character, a man forced to reinvent himself and find a new career as he navigates the second act of his life. It's a comedy, but it's a relatable premise (especially for me). Larry Crowne is the first feature Hanks has directed since 1996’s now classic music pic That Thing You Do! He also wrote that film, and it was enough of a seminal event for Hanks and Goetzman that they named their company after the record label in the film, the one that signed the one-hit wonders.
So this ends the guessing game of which film will be next for Hanks, whose last starring role was this past summer’s Angels & Demons, as well as for Roberts, who recently completed the ... Read More »
EXCLUSIVE: I'm told Showtime has picked up to series that pilot created and written by Groundlings comedy troupe member Darlene Hunt and starring 3-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney as a suburban wife and mother recently diagnosed with cancer. The 1/2-hour dark comedy is now called The Big C and will air for 13 episodes. "A metaphor for the way we all should live, yet rarely do, this is a journey about how to seize the day,” Showtime said when the pilot was announced last summer. Showtime boss Bob Greenblatt admitted at the time that "Cancer is not usually the subject of half-hour comedy, but Laura saw what we did in this complex show [about] a woman who gets a wake-up call that causes her to shake up her life and family. She will no doubt make this character both heartbreaking and disarmingly funny." Hunt and Linney will serve as executive producers of the series.
UPDATES How 'The Hangover' Got Made
Burbank, CA, January 6, 2010 - Warner Bros Pictures and Legendary Pictures' The Hangover has added another milestone to its record-breaking 2009 run. Since its release on Blu-ray and DVD on December 15th 2009, the film has become the #1 comedy of all time on the DVD charts with combined consumer and rental sales topping 8.6 million units with 1.5 million units coming from Blu-ray purchases. Strong sales are expected to continue bringing the six-month estimate to 9.5 million units. The Hangover earned more than $467 million worldwide during its theatrical run, making it the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.
UPDATES Go Inside 'The Wanda Sykes Show' Packet
You may recall that I wrote about how job-hungry comedy writers were strung along with the hopes of being hired on the writing staff of the Wanda Sykes Show after being asked to put together a massive packet. Well, I'm told that those who labored to send in current events monologues, field bits, and skits, eventually received this email in return from the Fox Entertainment Group:
"On behalf of the Wanda Sykes Show, we want to thank you for your submission of literary material. Based on concerns expressed by the Writers Guild of America, we want to assure you that it was never our intent to claim ownership of said material."
Comedy.com sent a couple of writers to crash the Jay Leno Show test taping this week and review it. Their verdict? Leno’s new show is a lot like his old show. (Toldja!) The writers called it "muddled and confusing", and "a big ladle serving us more imitation comedy gruel". Ouch!
They saw lots of “car art” onstage, and a separate double-door entry just for comedians (different from the guests'). Then, near their seats in the lobby was a discarded script: a sketch featuring Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) being attacked by the “JMZ” paparazzi. "It was so bad it was good," the writers wrote.That sketch is going to be a recurring gag.
Leno in his monologue told a joke about President Obama’s recent speech to America’s youth about staying in school and getting good grades. The punchline was, “and then George W. Bush gave his rebuttal.” The writers were amazed that later that night on The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien told the exact same joke in his monologue! "Maybe a sign of things to come: three guys in one night, all on the same network, all fighting for the same monologue jokes. This could get ugly." (I think it's just more NBC cost-cutting as Jeff Zucker manages for margins: recycled jokes are cheaper than originals.)
There was the inevitable product pitch: a Ford-sponsored concept of a “green” race track that was "essentially a long Ford commercial – sounds hilarious, right?," the writers asked. "Not so much." Guest Selma Blair changed and took the ... Read More »
MONDAY AM: Sony pickup District 9 hit $100M domestic Sunday, the 5th Wingnut Film production in a row from Peter Jackson's company to do that. It also opened #1 in the UK this weekend. And, on Saturday, Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen, passed $400M domestic.
Labor Day weekend is traditionally a slow moviegoing holiday. So Friday's and Saturday's numbers were only so-so. But Warner Bros' horror holdover The Final Destination 3-D ended the weekend a clear winner with $3.57M (-67%) Friday and $4.4M Saturday from 3,121 theaters. It's 3-day weekend was $12.3M, and its 4-day holiday was $15.4M for a new cume of $50.5M. On Friday, it narowly edged out Fox's romantic comedy All About Steve which opened to $3.50M Friday, and $3.9M Saturday in 2,251 venues. The Sandra Bullock (she also produced) and Bradley Cooper laffer did better than expected because it had one of the lowest Rotten Tomatoes scores I've ever seen: 6% positive reviews. It also had the bigger per screen average. But the pic couldn't begin to match those actors' big summer hits (The Proposal, The Hangover) as the season comes to a close. But by today, All About Steve fell to No. 3 behind Quentin Tarantino's holdover Inglourious Basterds from The Weinstein Company and Universal which moved up to No. 2. All About Steve ended up with $11.2M for the 3-day weekend and $13.9M for the 4-day ... Read More »
He'll do stand up and sit down. Because if you can't get your friends to appear, then you might as well hang it up. Question is, does anyone still care about Seinfeld anymore? Sure, it was great when his show first went into syndication. But now I haven't bothered with those reruns of the reruns of the reruns in years.
Seriously, this "Mad Women" video is the single WORST Mad Men spoof. I despair for comedy. So why is DHD posting it? So you can savage it. But Season 3 starts this Sunday.
This is the first news I've received from ABC about its late night show since Conan took over The Tonight Show. Now ABC is starting its spin, crowing that Jimmy Kimmel Live delivered its strongest showing in 5 weeks with its 2nd best performance of the summer in viewers and adults 18-49. "For the first time ever, JKL outdraws Fallon for the week in viewers. JKL outdelivers CBS’ Late Show Late Show with Craig Ferguson across all key adult demos."
During the week of July 13, 2009, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” delivered its strongest performance in Total Viewers (1.45 million) and Adults 18-49 (630,000) in 5 weeks – since w/o 6/8/09. In fact, the ABC late-night program turned in its second-best numbers of the summer.
· For the first time ever, “JKL” outperformed NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” in originals during the course of a week in Total Viewers (+14% - 1.45 million vs. 1.27 million). In fact, “JKL” outdrew the NBC late-night program in viewers 3 of the 4 nights of originals, while tying on the 4th: (Tuesday – 1.72 million vs. 1.29 million; Wednesday – 1.53 million vs. 1.01 million; Thursday – 1.34 million vs. 1.29 million; Friday – 1.38 million-tied). Note: “JKL” normally airs repeats on Mondays.
· In addition, “JKL” produced is most competitive performance ever to NBC’s “Fallon in Adults 18-49 (630,000 vs. 705,000).
· For the week, “JKL” bested CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” across each of the key Adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (249,000
... Read More »
I'm told writers are miffed that Fox's new Wanda Sykes show coming Saturday nights is asking prospective scribes to do a lot of free writing in order to try out for a job there. It's a WGA show, which is not supposed to ask writers to create new material as part of a submission packet. Now, in truth, most shows do it, whether it's Letterman asking for a sample Top Ten list, Conan asking for some sample monologue jokes, etc. But writers tell me they've never seen one with the nerve to ask for this much for free. And, speaking of nerve, "How about their bombastic description of Wanda Sykes' talent and what this show is going to be? You'd think Nelson Mandela was getting his own talk show here," one scribe emailed me. Here's the submission packet:
It's rare that any writer openly campaigns for an Emmy. But Family Guy's Patrick Meighan sent around this amusing email that raised a few eyebrows to the many people who received it. "I've certainly known plenty of people nominated for Emmys (hell, who hasn't been nominated?)," one of the recipients told me, "and I've never seen such a naked trolling for votes." Appropriate or inappropriate? You decide:
Hey, friend-of-Pat. Hope you're doing well.
Prolly you've heard that Family Guy got nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy today. It's the first time that an animated show has been nominated in that category since 1961 (when The Flintstones lost to The Jack Benny Show). 1961! Alaska had just become a state. Internet porn about pregnant chicks was still a crazy, futuristic dream. And the leading cause of death in our nation among males age 18 to 40 was whistling at white women.
We at Family Guy are simultaneously thrilled and confused by today's development. Mostly thrilled, though. And since I, in particular, am new to this whole Emmy scene, I'm gonna violate longstanding rules of Emmy decorum and beg you -- if you happen to be a member of the TV Academy -- to please consider wasting your Best Comedy vote on our cartoon picture!
Note that Academy members who wish to vote in this category NEED TO SIGN UP TO VOTE (see instructions and link below).
And if you, yourself, aren't an Academy member but happen to
... Read More »
EXCLUSIVE: Here's more proof that Sony Pictures will do anything to publicize its movies. Today is international day for the publicity junket on Ugly Truth, the upcoming romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. And the media and flacks were ensconced at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. That is, until I'm told a bomb threat was phoned in, prompting the hotel to order an emergency evacuation of everyone. So what did Sony execs do? Shepherd all the junketeers including the movie stars and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from the green median on Burton Way across the street to the nearby restaurant Il Cielo -- and set up the junket there until the hotel gave the all-clear signal. As my source emailed, "Publicists never give up."
UPDATED: So how is NBC Universal chairman Jeff Zucker going to spin this with The New York Times' Bill Carter? Remember when, a few weeks back, a NBC press release called Conan O'Brien the "King Of Late Night TV"? 
Looks kinda premature now, huh? I've said it before, and I'll say it again, NBC’s mantra that "We don’t need eyeballs as long as we have key demos" doesn't fly. Actually, both count. But last week David Letterman posted his largest weekly victory over The Tonight Show since 2000, while last week's Tonight Show posted its smallest audience since Dave premiered in August 1993. (Letterman was aided by the booking of Sir Paul McCartney last night). "This does not bode well for the fall," a CBS exec warned. Here's what is worse: Dave's Late Show also matched Conan's Tonight Show in adults 25-to-54. Plus, O'Brien scored The Tonight Show's lowest advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 rating since Letterman premiered on CBS. Even Conan's margin of strength -- 18-to-34 -- has fallen one full ratings point since O'Brien's premiere week on The Tonight Show. How can Zucker take that to the bank? Because Madison Avenue knows full well that if they want younger audiences with fewer eyeballs, they can buy ads on cable, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than prime time. Adding insult to injury, Letterman also scored 5 Emmy nominations this morning. Here's the CBS bitchslap, er, news release:
CBS's
... Read More »
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