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How Lewis Black’s Righteous Anger Has Gotten Us Through Two Decades of […]It may be hard to believe, but Lewis Black has been blessing us with his gloriously angry rants for over 20 years now. Before Jon Stewart took […]
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‘The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale’ Reimagines ‘The Soup’ for NetflixBefore Joel McHale starred as Jeff Winger on the much-beloved Community, he became a household name as the host of The Soup, the E! series […]
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Why Jimmy Fallon Should Share the ‘Tonight Show’ Spotlight More OftenIt’s become pretty easy to take shots at Jimmy Fallon. I certainly had some harsh words for the guy when I put together my 2017 late night Year […]
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Recapping the Year in Late NightThe field of late night television is more crowded than ever. Beyond the main five network hosts, the crowd of cable hosts is growing larger […]
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Season 21 of ‘South Park’ Bounces Back After a Rocky StartAt the halfway point of South Park’s 21st season, my reaction was a bit mixed. On one hand, they gave us a brilliant look at the opioid […]
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‘The Problem with Apu’ Expertly Explores the Biggest Flaw of ‘The Simpsons’In 2012, Hari Kondabolu – then a writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell – went on a rant that had been long overdue. In a clip that […]
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Innovation and Catharsis Make Judah Friedlander’s Netflix Special Stand OutGenerally speaking, when we hear the phrase “standup special,” we think of an individual performance. A comic gets on stage, and for the next […]
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‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘South Park’ Are Haunted by Their Pasts in the […]It’s been almost two years since Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live, but the shock of Lorne Michaels actually inviting him still hasn’t […]
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Sarah Silverman and Robin Thede’s New Talk Shows Both Start StrongConsidering what a boys’ club late night comedy has always been, October 12, 2017 may go down as a historic day, as two new comedy talk shows […]
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Jordan Klepper’s ‘The Opposition’ Is Off to a Promising StartWhen Jordan Klepper made his debut on The Daily Show in 2014, it was clear that he had a little Stephen Colbert in him. Or, to be more […]
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Revisiting Some of ‘Saturday Night Live’s Best Season Premieres EverSeason 43 of Saturday Night Live begins this weekend, with Ryan Gosling hosting and Jay-Z as the musical guest. It’s a strong lineup, combining […]
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The Perpetually Underrated Versatility of Chris ParnellWhen Will Ferrell left Saturday Night Live in May 2002, his final episode ended with his castmates sharing stories about their time working […]
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On ‘Jerks From Tower One,’ the Great ‘Simpsons’ Podcast That’s Sadly EndingWith 28 seasons, 618 episodes (about 300 good ones), and an endless influence on society and pop culture, The Simpsons gives us much to […]
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A Recommendation: The Hallmark Channel’s Late Night LineupWhen looking for good comedy options, the Hallmark Channel is probably the absolute last place you would look. It’s a network named after a […]
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Brad Paisley Plays It Safe in His ‘Comedy Rodeo’ SpecialThe thought of country singer Brad Paisley having his own Netflix standup special – even one with several actual comics on the bill – […]
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The Five Stages of ‘South Park’This Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the first episode of South Park. In the time since then, the animated comedy about four foul-mouthed […]
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Saying Goodbye to ‘@midnight’ with Co-Creator Alex BlaggTwo weeks ago, @midnight host Chris Hardwick announced that the show would be ending its run tonight after airing its 600th episode. Since its […]
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Considering ‘The Simpsons Movie’ Ten Years LaterWhen I first heard that there was finally going to be a Simpsons movie in 2006, I approached it with cautious optimism. On one hand, my […]
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How ‘Rick and Morty’ and ‘BoJack Horseman’ Changed What Adult Animation […]When I first saw ads for Rick and Morty on Adult Swim in 2013, the premise seemed pretty straightforward: Back to the Future, except Doc is an […]
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NBC Never Gave ‘The Carmichael Show’ a ChanceA few weeks ago, NBC pulled the plug on The Carmichael Show, a well-liked show that got solid-if-unspectacular ratings from time to time but […]
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Why 2017 Is the Perfect Time for the Brutal Honesty of Jim JefferiesWhen it was announced that Jim Jefferies would be getting a weekly political show on Comedy Central, the last thing anyone could have expected […]
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Why Seeso Is Worth SavingLast Friday, it was revealed that Seeso, the comedy-oriented streaming site owned by NBCUniversal, was issuing a series of layoffs. If that […]
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Why NBC Shouldn’t Have Pulled ‘The Carmichael Show’s Gun Violence EpisodeOn Wednesday, the country was shocked by the events in Alexandria, Virginia, where a gunman targeted a congressional baseball practice. The […]
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What Is Considered a Fireable Comedy Offense in 2017?
The Friday before last, I noticed that my Twitter feed was suddenly really mad at Bill Maher. This wasn’t exactly anything new; he caught […]
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How ‘King of the Hill’s ‘Meet the Propaniacs’ Accidentally Predicted Meme […]A recurring theme throughout King of the Hill’s run is that Hank and Bobby had little in common. The show made it clear that the pair loved […]
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Why ‘The Daily Show’ Needs to Utilize Hasan Minhaj More2017 has been an incredible year for Hasan Minhaj. First, the Daily Show correspondent delivered a strong set at the White House […]
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Season 42 of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Was Entertaining But Ultimately Fell […]
We are officially 42 seasons deep into Saturday Night Live, and last weekend’s season finale, which featured Dwayne Johnson, Katy Perry, […]
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Why a Podcast Was the Perfect Move for Larry WilmoreIn August, late night TV fans were shocked to learn that Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Show had been canceled after just 19 months on the air. Comedy […]
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The Three Tiers of ‘SNL’s Five-Timers Club
In 1990, Saturday Night Live fans were introduced to the Five-Timers Club, the extremely exclusive organization that only a handful of […]
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Talking ‘The President Show’ with Anthony AtamanuikLast year, Anthony Atamanuik teamed up with James Adomian to create Trump vs. Bernie, a stage show between the two most surprising candidates […]
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Why Moshe Kasher’s ‘Problematic’ Is the Political Comedy Show We Need […]
When I heard that Comedy Central had greenlit a show called Problematic (a word often used in social justice circles), I wondered if it […]
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Revisiting ‘The Critic’s ‘All the Duke’s Men’If you’re like me, every once in a while you stop what you’re doing completely and say to yourself “holy crap, Donald Trump is President.” It’s […]
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How ‘Brockmire’ Adeptly Combines Whimsy and DarknessOfficially, the inspiration for the excellent new IFC comedy Brockmire is a Funny or Die sketch from 2010, but if you’re a Simpsons fan, you […]
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The Five Ways a ‘Simpsons’ Episode Can Be Great
This week, The Simpsons celebrated its 30th birthday. On April 19, 1987, the show debuted as a sketch on The Tracey Ullman Show, and the […]
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Why ‘Family Guy’ Is Slowly Getting Its Groove BackBack in November, I wrote a piece detailing all the issues I had with Family Guy, the animated Fox sitcom now in its 15th season. I detailed […]
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On the Surprising Heart of ‘The Comedy Jam’The connection between musicians and comedians is long-established, with the idea often being that each group wants to be the other. Comedians […]
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How ‘Simpsons Shitposting’ Brilliantly Recontextualizes the Show’s Best […]If you’re reading this, you’re probably quite familiar with The Simpsons. After all, this website looks at the world of modern comedy, and it’s […]
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Why Self-Deprecation Is Jim Norton’s Greatest Attribute
The beginning of Jim Norton’s latest Netflix special Mouthful of Shame features our protagonist receiving a torrent of abuse. When looking […]
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Why Jimmy Fallon’s Escapism Doesn’t Work in the Trump Era
Last September, Jimmy Fallon had then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on his show. In a move that would be questioned by many, […]
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How ‘King of the Hill’ Led Directly to ‘Bob’s Burgers’
When Bob’s Burgers premiered in 2011, one couldn’t help but wonder if the show would have anything in common with King Of The Hill. After […]
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Michael Bolton and the Art of Being In on the Joke
In the history of cinema, few celebrities have ever been mocked so brutally over the course of a movie as poor Michael Bolton in Office […]
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The Best Cameo Appearances in ‘SNL’ History
This past weekend, Saturday Night Live viewers were given a nice surprise, as Melissa McCarthy made a cameo appearance playing Press […]
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Why ‘SNL’ Should Book More Standup Comedians as Hosts
This past Saturday, Aziz Ansari hosted the first Saturday Night Live episode of the Trump presidency. More than aware of the occasion, he […]
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How ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Has Staved Off Stagnation
The other day, a thought dawned on me: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia debuted the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high […]
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What Went Wrong with Season 20 of ‘South Park’?
After a few episodes of South Park’s 20th season, I wrote a piece for this site in which I praised the show’s ongoing serial storyline for […]
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The Increasingly Absurd Deaths of Gerald Ford
2016 was a very, very bad year no matter how you slice it. In tough times, comedy is often a form of escape that people turn to when they […]
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On the Rough-Around-the-Edges Comic
In September 2014, when the NFL was embroiled by the Ray Rice scandal, Bill Burr made an appearance on Conan. During this appearance, he […]
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Being Funny Is Harder Now, and That’s a Good Thing
Sometime in 2011 or 2012, a thought popped into my head that I decided to share with my friends: “money can’t buy happiness, but it can’t buy […]
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Why Larry Wilmore Should Return to the Talk Show Circuit
On Monday, August 15th, when I did my first internet check of the day, I was immediately sent into a state of shock and horror. The very […]
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How Colin Quinn Became Comedy’s Coolest History Teacher
When considering Colin Quinn’s place in history, he can’t help but seem – at least at first glance – like something of a tragic figure. […]
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