In early January, comedian Katt Williams went on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast and took aim at Cedric the Entertainer for stealing “my very best joke.” The bit in question — which involved a pantomime of driving with music blasting — was first performed by Katt in a 1998 appearance on ComicView, then reproduced by Cedric (according to Katt) for his set in Spike Lee’s The Original Kings of Comedy. Cedric called the accusations “revisionist history” on Instagram.
We’ve been down this road many times before. For much of the 20th century, joke stealing was an open secret. “All comedians steal from all comedians,” the legend Stan Laurel once mused. Some of the biggest names in comedy did it. Milton Berle was so blatant in his joke stealing that he earned the nickname “The Thief of Bad Gags.” Richard Pryor admitted on The Tonight Show that he ripped off his comedy idols,...
We’ve been down this road many times before. For much of the 20th century, joke stealing was an open secret. “All comedians steal from all comedians,” the legend Stan Laurel once mused. Some of the biggest names in comedy did it. Milton Berle was so blatant in his joke stealing that he earned the nickname “The Thief of Bad Gags.” Richard Pryor admitted on The Tonight Show that he ripped off his comedy idols,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Eric Spitznagel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On December 18, after ten seasons and over 1,400 episodes, The Colbert Report will come to a close. Allison Silverman was the show's first co-head writer and eventually its executive producer, working on the show from 2005–2009. She's credited for coming up with the character-defining idea of having Stephen Colbert come out to the interview desk to greet the guest, as opposed to the other way around, the late-night standard. Mike Sacks, author of two books of interviews with comedy writers, And Here's the Kicker and Poking a Dead Frog, spoke with Silverman for this as-told-to piece.The First Episode and Starting Out I joined The Colbert Report in August 2005, about two months before it went on the air. It was definitely no sure thing. Comedy Central only guaranteed 32 episodes, eight weeks of shows. And I was leaving Late Night With Conan O’Brien, a great writing job that was as...
- 12/17/2014
- by Allison Silverman
- Vulture
Here's a fun fact about Bill Hader you might not know: he's a major film buff. Yep, the "Saturday Night Live" veteran likes his Criterion Collection movies as much as the next cinephile. His knowledge rolls pretty deep, and now he's sharing his love of cinema in a unique way. Inside the book "Poking A Dead Frog: Conversations With Today’s Top Comedy Writers" by Mike Sacks, Hader provides his list of 200 movies every comedy writer should see. Yes, you'll see the usual staples from folks like Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, and Charlie Chaplin, but there are some nice, not so obvious picks too. Billy Wilder's scathing "Ace In The Hole" notches a spot, as do Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" and Robert Altman's "Nashville." So now the big question: how many have you seen? Here's all 200, let us know in the comments section.
- 8/29/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Bill Hader has come a long way since his stint on Saturday Night Live, creating many popular characters and impersonations such as Stefon, Vincent Price and CNN’s Jack Cafferty. He is one of the highlights in such films as Adventureland, Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express, and so it is easy to see why author Mike Sacks interviewed him for his new book Poking A Dead Frog. In it, Hader talks about his career and he also lists 200 essential movies every comedy writer should see. Xo Jane recently published the list for those of us who haven’t had a chance to read the book yet. There are a ton of great recommendations and plenty I haven’t yet seen, but sadly my favourite comedy of all time isn’t mentioned. That would be Some Like It Hot. Still, it really is a great list with a mix of old and new.
- 8/28/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Now you don't have to be a comedy writer to appreciate great comedic filmmaking, but "Saturday Night Live" veteran Bill Hader has an impressive list of 200 Essential Movies Every Comedy Writer Should See. Thankfully, this is also just a great list of comedies that any cinephile with a penchant for good comedy should check out. The list comes from Mike Sacks' book Poking A Dead Frog: Conversations With Today’s Top Comedy Writers, which sounds like a great read for anyone with more than a passing interest in the art of comedy. But we know you came here for the movie list, so keep reading for the goods. Read on! Bill Hader's (alphabetical) 200 Essential Movies Every Comedy Writer Should See from Xo Jane: 1. 9 to 5 (1980) 2. 1941 (1979) 3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) 4. Ace in the Hole (1951) 5. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) 6. After Hours (1985) 7. Airplane! (1980) 8. Amarcord (1973) 9. American Graffiti (1973) 10. An American in Paris...
- 8/28/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Have you ever wondered how the Academy Awards gets written every year? Bruce Vilanch is the man to ask. Starting as a writer on the broadcast 25 years ago, Vilanch has been the annual show’s head writer since 2000. What he specifically writes varies from host to host, but ultimately, everything you see on the telecast goes through him. Below, in an interview with Vanity Fair writer Mike Sacks, Vilanch dishes on trying to make celebrities seem funny, the “cock joke” that Steve Martin refused to tell, and why exactly James Franco, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman each bombed as hosts of the Oscars. The conversation is an excerpt from Poking a Dead Frog, Sacks’s new book of interviews with notable comedy writers such as Amy Poehler, Mel Brooks, and Adam McKay,which he put together as a follow-up to his similar 2009 collection, And Here’s the Kicker. You can...
- 6/23/2014
- by Mike Sacks
- Vulture
The stars of MTV's late-night talk show "Nikki & Sara Live" are riding high as they prepare for the show's second-season premiere July 30, but co-host Sara Schaefer still remembers the tough financial spot she was in before the series began.
The Emmy-winning comedian had a whopping $57,000 in debt, which came from losing control of her spending after life trauma, she told HuffPost Live's Mike Sacks.
"I had a lot of change in my life -- divorce, my mom died, all this stuff happened -- and I just spent money to try to make everything okay, like, 'I'm gonna live alone,' 'I need a big TV, I've never had a TV,' stuff like that. And it just spiraled out of control," Schaefer said.
Schaefer has now paid most of the debt, except for student loans. But her struggle with keeping her finances straight has kept her cautious, she said,...
The Emmy-winning comedian had a whopping $57,000 in debt, which came from losing control of her spending after life trauma, she told HuffPost Live's Mike Sacks.
"I had a lot of change in my life -- divorce, my mom died, all this stuff happened -- and I just spent money to try to make everything okay, like, 'I'm gonna live alone,' 'I need a big TV, I've never had a TV,' stuff like that. And it just spiraled out of control," Schaefer said.
Schaefer has now paid most of the debt, except for student loans. But her struggle with keeping her finances straight has kept her cautious, she said,...
- 7/24/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
It seems wedding bells are in store for Jason Derulo and Jordin Sparks.
Derulo gushed about his lady love during an interview with HuffPost Live's Mike Sacks and addressed rumors that he and Sparks may be thinking about marriage.
"It'll happen when the time is right. She's definitely somebody that I see spending the rest of my life with," Derulo said.
Sparks was the inspiration for Derulo's new single, "The Other Side," which describes the transition from a platonic friendship with the "American Idol" winner to a romance.
"In the beginning I never thought she would be that person that I would be with," he said. "I wasn't really looking for a relationship at that point, when we were friends, and then I wanted to change things around."
Watch the whole segment with Jason Derulo at HuffPost Live Here.
Derulo gushed about his lady love during an interview with HuffPost Live's Mike Sacks and addressed rumors that he and Sparks may be thinking about marriage.
"It'll happen when the time is right. She's definitely somebody that I see spending the rest of my life with," Derulo said.
Sparks was the inspiration for Derulo's new single, "The Other Side," which describes the transition from a platonic friendship with the "American Idol" winner to a romance.
"In the beginning I never thought she would be that person that I would be with," he said. "I wasn't really looking for a relationship at that point, when we were friends, and then I wanted to change things around."
Watch the whole segment with Jason Derulo at HuffPost Live Here.
- 7/19/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Newly crowned Miss Universe Olivia Culpo joined HuffPost Live Thursday, one day after she became the eighth Miss USA to win the competition. The 20-year-old beauty queen told host Mike Sacks what it was like to win and weighed in on feminism, gun control, and medical marijuana.
HuffPost Live producer Mitchell Williams asked Culpo about where she stood on legal marijuana and whether or not she had ever smoked pot. While she didn't reveal whether she had used the drug, she did have this to say: "I don't think it should be legalized for recreational purposes, because it's been proven to prevent people from their full potentional and I don't think that's a good thing for society. If we're trying to move things forward, a drug like marijuana does the opposite, it will slow things down. But for medical purposes I think it's great, but for everyday? No."
Watch: Miss...
HuffPost Live producer Mitchell Williams asked Culpo about where she stood on legal marijuana and whether or not she had ever smoked pot. While she didn't reveal whether she had used the drug, she did have this to say: "I don't think it should be legalized for recreational purposes, because it's been proven to prevent people from their full potentional and I don't think that's a good thing for society. If we're trying to move things forward, a drug like marijuana does the opposite, it will slow things down. But for medical purposes I think it's great, but for everyday? No."
Watch: Miss...
- 12/20/2012
- by David Flumenbaum
- Huffington Post
Newly crowned Miss Universe Olivia Culpo joined HuffPost Live Thursday, one day after she became the eighth Miss USA to win the competition. The 20-year-old beauty queen told host Mike Sacks what it was like to win and weighed in on feminism, gun control, and medical marijuana.
HuffPost Live producer Mitchell Williams asked Culpo about where she stood on legal marijuana and whether or not she had ever smoked pot. While she didn't reveal whether she had used the drug, she did have this to say: "I don't think it should be legalized for recreational purposes, because it's been proven to prevent people from their full potentional and I don't think that's a good thing for society. If we're trying to move things forward, a drug like marijuana does the opposite, it will slow things down. But for medical purposes I think it's great, but for everyday? No."
Watch: Miss...
HuffPost Live producer Mitchell Williams asked Culpo about where she stood on legal marijuana and whether or not she had ever smoked pot. While she didn't reveal whether she had used the drug, she did have this to say: "I don't think it should be legalized for recreational purposes, because it's been proven to prevent people from their full potentional and I don't think that's a good thing for society. If we're trying to move things forward, a drug like marijuana does the opposite, it will slow things down. But for medical purposes I think it's great, but for everyday? No."
Watch: Miss...
- 12/20/2012
- by David Flumenbaum
- Aol TV.
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