Mitch Hedberg’s new album, Do you Believe in Gosh? is out Sept. 9 on Comedy Central Records. Check out a few tracks here.
And remember to enter our contest to win a copy of the album. Punchline Magazine is giving away three copies. All you need to do is write a haiku (that’s a three-line poem with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five again in the third) about Mitch Hedberg and send it here: contest@punchlinemagazine.com. Make sure “Mitch” is in the subject line. We will choose our three favorite ones, post them online and send those peeps a copy of the album! When you enter, please include your name and address. We will print your town, so you have to be cool with that.
A while back on LateNet with Ray Ellin, comedian and host Ellin — who is hosting the Punchline Magazine 3rd anniversary show Oct. 7 — interviewed the one and only, all-too-honest Jim Norton. Check it out.
In June, we told you about New York City’s legendary Friars’ Club’s contest, So You Think You Can Roast? to find the next great roaster. At a showdown at Gotham Comedy Club, they set out to find 18 comics for semi-finals competition; those semi finalists have been chosen and have either already competed in Round 1 (the roast of The Sopranos’ Vincent Pastore on July 29) or will perform at Round 2 tonight at the roast of Star Trek’s George Tekai.
Now, the Friars’ Club is looking for a wild card comedian to compete in the third round of the semi-finals, which will be the roast of The Apprentice’s Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth on Sept. 22. Tryouts to become the wild card contender will be held at Carolines on Sept. 5.
The top two performers at the Omarosa roast will compete in the Final Round – confused, yet? – which will be the roast of The Howard Stern Show’s Gary Dell’Abate on Oct. 7. The winner of the whole shebang will perform at the roast of Matt Lauer on Oct. 24.
Check out some of comics who’ll be roasting Tekai tonight:
Comedian Jo Koy lives with a crazy midget and it’s not as fun as you might think. Joe Derosa’s overly-religious father made things difficult for Joe friends when he was a kid. Hint: scary statues. Check it out.
It’s been an exciting two weeks for up-and-coming comics in Philadelphia as Helium comedy club has been hosting the Philly’s Phunniest Person Contest. On Saturday, it call came to an end when Kent Haines was named the winner by a panel of guest judges. The contest began with 150 comics.
Philadelphia comedy blog Comic Vs. Audience has been meticulously covering each night of competition. In today’s entry, CVA had this to say:
While Kent was not a favorite to win the competition, his performance in each round stood out with great reactions for the audience each time. And, in our opinion, his semi-finals and finals sets were the best that we’ve ever seen him.
It’s about time. Legendary comedian Bill Hicks may be the subject of a biographical film in the possibly-distant future. Russell Crowe revealed in a recent interview that he is in talks to portray the controversial comic, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32.
“I have another project based on the life of comedian Bill Hicks, which is going from treatment to draft stage with Kiwi writer Mark Staufer,” Crowe told the Sydney Morning Herald.
No other details have been confirmed about the potential project. Internet rumors have said that Ron Howard may direct the film, but Crowe did not address this possibility in the interview.
There’s a good chance you’ve seen MoveOn.org’s anti John McCain ad, wherein a young mother tells the old guy that he can’t have her precious son Alex, if — like he has famously said — he plans on staying in Iraq for a hundred years. Check it out below before you “move on” — oh, man… get it? — to the second video.
MoveOn.org is the kind of well-meaning group that makes me cringe. I agree with their views and surely identify as a liberal, but more times than not, they make me a little ashamed to be a Dem. This ad is such a dopey, heavy-handed, all-too-precious piece of poop. Believe me, I’ll do anything to prevent my future children from being sent to war. Montreal is nice and is just a 45-minute plane ride from New York; plus once moved, we’ll no doubt have to learn French, which just seems extra unpatriotic and fun.
Punchline Magazine will celebrate three years online Tues, Oct 7 at Comix comedy club in New York with a night of stellar comedy.
Greg Giraldo, Robert Kelly, Christian Finnegan, Laurie Kilmartin and Pete Dominick are set to perform. Comedian Ray Ellin, host of LateNet with Ray Ellin and founder of DailyComedy.com will host the show. The Onion and DailyComedy will co-sponsor the event.
Thousands of mourners gathered Aug. 16 on the south side of Chicago to remember Bernie Mac, who died Aug. 9 of pneumonia. Samuel L. Jackson, who stars alongside Mac in the upcoming movie Soul Men, spoke at the service held at House of Hope church.
“He never turned that kid down for an autograph,” Jackson said. “He always had time to shake a hand. He was always that kid from Chicago who wanted to make everybody happy and everybody laugh.”
In addition to Soul Men, Mac had also finished work on the movies Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Old Dogs.
Chris Rock, Jesse Jackson and Don Cheadle also attended the ceremony Saturday.
