The other night as I was walking through the Union Square area of Manhattan, something caught my attention; it was a poster advertising a theater production based on Michael Ian Black’s 2008 collection of essays My Custom Van. Read our review of the book here.

I was surprised first that I hadn’t heard of this thing yet, and second, that in the day of online social media, a small poster on the side of a building is how I learned about it. What, is this 1993?

Anyway, let me get this out of the way. Michael Ian Black is not actually in the production, though he has given the theater company Project: Theater his blessing. “It’s really cool to have the support of someone who knows what it’s like to work his way up from a do-it-yourself program like The State to the ultra-megastardom that Michael now enjoys,” Joe Jung, artistic director tells Punchline Magazine, adding that the show is comprised of 15 of the essays found in Black’s book, acted out by eight performers. “We sent an invite to him to be our guest of honor. It would be great if he came, but he may be too busy delivering baby calves, feeding starving dolphins or hanging out with his numerous celebrity friends at Planet Hollywood to make it, which is understandable.”

But I wanted to know more about this production titled Michael Ian Black’s My Custom Van, which runs April 1 – 24 (get your tickets here!) at the intimate 60-seat Drilling Company Theatre in New York. And Joe was happy to oblige. After the jump, read about how the show came to be.

Read the rest of this entry »

This will come as a huge bummer for all you die hard fans of awkward-laugh-masters Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black. After much speculation, Showalter announced the Michael and Michael Have Issues‘ cancellation on his Twitter.

“To all who were fans of Michael & Michael Have Issues I can confirm that one week ago Comedy Central canceled the show.Thanks for watching!”

The Larry Sanders-esque series focused on heightened versions of the two Michaels bickering behind the scenes of their fictional sketch show. It’s a shame because the show started funny and had potential to become even funnier. But alas, like the duo’s previous Comedy Central series, Stella, MMHI failed to hook an audience beyond its legion of die hard fans. But then again, it only got one measly season.

Here’s a clip from the good old days:

While some members of Team Coco are undoubtedly going to be out for the blood of Black, comedian/professional pitchman Michael Ian Black does raise some pretty decent (and certainly thought-provoking) questions with his blog post on the whole late night debacle. Taking a politically charged stance, Black posits that the cultural intrigue surrounding Conan and NBC’s public squabbles may have more to do with a general dissatisfaction and outrage surrounding looming lay-off rates and corporate muckracking by recession robber barons:

I think the deeper reason people are so inflamed by this petty war is that Conan in his own way has come to represent the aggrieved, the injured, the wrongly terminated. I think there is a sense in this country that giant corporations are ruining everything, even late night talk shows. Something so insignificant takes on greater importance because I think on some level, “The Tonight Show” actually has become a very flawed stand-in for all the jobs lost to corporate greed, arrogance, and stupidity. We see Conan as a victim because we feel as though, like us, he wasn’t given a fair shot. If a guy like that, a guy who has everything, can be downsized and demoted, what hope do the rest of us have?

In a move that might have the unintended consequences of infuriating the millions of Team Coco pledge-ees, Black then goes on to chastise the masses gathered to rally on Conan’s behalf. (Not entirely wrongly, in this author’s humble opinion.)

Sure it’s a shame it didn’t work out for Conan, the most creative talk show host since David Letterman, and I think it’s great he took a principled stand against NBC, but is this really the stuff of rallies? Is this really where we want to spend our political capital? If you have the energy to protest Conan O’Brien’s departure in Burbank, shouldn’t you maybe think about spending some time chanting outside General Motors or Goldman Sachs? Or Congress? This is the cause you want to get involved with? Instead of holding up placards with the Masturbating Bear on them, maybe donate a pint of blood. It’ll be a lot more helpful to somebody.

I must admit – until I read Black’s post, considering this a political issue hadn’t crossed my mind. But as my roommate said, rhetoric like this may serve to shed light upon the real reasons why so many feel so up-in-arms about Conan’s mistreatment at the cold, corporate digits of NBC. Granted, much of the public outcry can be directly attributed to Conan’s unshakeable and unwaveringly committed fan-base, but I think Black touches on a very relevant – if unexplored – cause; that being a general, ongoing seething resentment for what Fortune 500 demons have done to this country, our jobs, our families, and our livelihood.

What do you think about Black’s opinion? Leave your comments below – we’re eager to hear from you regarding the biggest entertainment uproar of 2010.

Warning: I will be making fun of people from 2-3 EST. Expect LOTS of tweets from me and one cumming smurfs joke. – Michael Ian Black, via Twitter.

The warning came through yesterday from MIB that he would be making fun of his Twitter followers as a way to raise money for The Sunrise Group a charity that provides living and work environments in which people with disabilities can thrive.

Twitter followers will get a 140 personalized character quip from MIB roasting them in front of his vast 1.5+ million followers in exchange for a $5 donation. The roasting deadline has since past but  you are still encouraged to make a donation here.

It’s beginning to look a lot like… The holidays (Punchline Magazine is non-denominational)! To lighten things up for the shopping season, the fun loving folks at ebay has launched a cool new ad campaign featuring comedian spokesmen. Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Hart and the duo of Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black have lent their services to the Web’s hottest auction resource. The ads are funny! Here’s a taste:

For more content, including web-only vids and outtakes, check out eBay’s youtube page.

The Brits have done it again! The wildly popular island nation that offered up fabulous originals for fabulous Yank rip-offs like The Office, The Weakest Link, and Coupling (okay, maybe not Coupling) have now given us Have I Got News For You, a quiz show chock-full of political antics and hilarious hijinks.

Premiering on NBC and hosted by Sam Seder of Air America fame, the show will feature team captains Michael Ian Black and Greg Giraldo squaring off with celeb compatriots on topical questions and current events fare. A preliminary taping of the show will be held Friday, November 20 at 7:15 PM in Manhattan. Get free tickets here.

WitStream, the new Twitter-like site that focuses on the tweets of comedians, enjoyed a festive launch on Monday night at Comix in New York City. Michael Ian Black, who co-founded the site, hosted the show. He was also on-hand throughout, critiquing the live feed of his peers’ WitSream one-liners from a laptop at the side of the stage. He also gave the best explanation of WitStream I’ve heard so far: “It’s like Twitter, but without most of the people.”

The show featured stand-up from some of WitStream’s top “aristocrats.” Baron Vaughn, Morgan Murphy, Black’s collaborator Michael Showalter, Josh Fadem, the Sklar Brothers and Doug Benson delivered killer sets. All in all, it was a great kickoff for the new site. You can keep your Twitter addiction, but definitely open a tab for WitStream, which will most definitely guarantee more chuckles per minute of wasted time.

Nothing hits the spot like a snappy one liner. Twitter, with its 140 character or less update system, has become the go-to spot for comedy fans to get frequently updated content from their favorite comedians. The only problem is, you have to sift through an awful lot of boring Tweets to get to the good stuff.

Comedian and sitcom star Michael Ian Black has tackled this problem with a new website. Witstream.com showcases the jokes, observations and nonsensical updates of the funniest comedians on Twitter.

“So often I hear people complain they’re frustrated by social networks because there’s nothing interesting about knowing what their co-workers ate for lunch,” says co-founder and CEO Lisa Cohen. “WitStream solves this problem because 100% of the content is from comedians, who write some truly hilarious and insightful stuff.”

To celebrate the launch of Witstream, its founders are holding a show in New York featuring some of the site’s contributors: Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Pete Holmes, Josh Fadem, Morgan Murphy, and Baron Vaughn. It’s happening Nov 2 at 8 pm at Comix. Click here for tickets.

Tonight at 10:30 pm EST marks the finale of the very first season of Michael and Michael Have Issues. In honor of that fact, the folks at Comedy Central jammed together some of the more memorable moments from the past few weeks of the series. Watch. Enjoy. Repeat.

You’ll also want to check out the video interview we did with Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter the week before the show premiered on Comedy Central.

As you are probably well aware, the complete series of The State will be out on DVD July 14. For comedy nerds and casual comedy fans alike, this is huge news. So, to prep for the release, we’ll be posting some of our favorite State clips. Here’s clip #1. Enjoy!