Two old friends who got their start on stand-up comedy stages and later found nearly unparalleled success on television are heading back to their roots. Both Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond fame and Kevin James of King of Queens fame, will set out on live comedy tours; Romano will join James on five West Coast dates before James sets out on his own, longer national tour. The dual-headlining tour dates are listed below, with noted on-sale dates.

3/20 at The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA – Onsale 2/11 at TicketMaster.com

3/21 at William Saroyan Theatre, Fresno, CA – Onsale now at TicketMaster.com

3/22 at Community Theatre, Sacramento, CA – Onsale now at Tickets.com

3/23 at Nob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco, CA – Onsale 2/6 at LiveNation.com

3/24 at Flint Center, Cupertino, CA – Onsale 2/10 at TicketMaster.com

James will start his solo headlining jaunt on March 28 in Phoenix, AZ and will finish off on April 13 in Orlando, FL. The full schedule is below:

3/28 at Comerica Theatre, Phoenix, AZ – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

3/30 at Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

3/31 at Majestic Theatre, Dallas, TX – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

4/2 at Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN – Onsale 2/6 at www.TicketMaster.com

4/3 at Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

4/4 at Warner Theatre, Washington, DC – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

4/5 at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT – Onsale 2/10 at www.TicketMaster.com

4/7 at Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ – Onsale this week at www.TheBorgata.com

4/9 at Theatre at Westbury, Westbury, NY – Onsale 2/10 at www.LiveNation.com

4/10 at Durham PAC, Durham, NC – Onsale 2/6 at www.TicketMaster.com

4/11 at Cobb PAC, Atlanta, GA – Onsale Now at www.LiveNation.com

4/12 at Tampa PAC, Tampa, FL – Onsale 2/6 at www.strazcenter.org

4/13 at Hard Rock Hotel, Orlando, FL – Onsale 2/10 at www.TicketMaster.com

Photo by Tom Caltabiano

Be forewarned. The next Tenacious D album, Rize of the Fenix, will be coming out in May, complete with an over-the-top phallic album cover. And fans of The D have been waiting to bang their heads and laugh ever since Pick of Destiny didn’t live up to its expectations five years ago. Also, it will be, arguably the first time in several years that we get to hear Jack Black, the hard rock conqueror, that we came to know and love. If you doubt the return of Tenacious D, just listen to a sample from the new album below.

You may remember that Will Ferrell has been starring in Old Milwaukee beer ads that air only in certain parts of the Midwest. Well, it turns out Ferrell made an appearance in a Super Bowl ad for the beer company. This one, we’re told, was only aired in North Platte, NE. It’s a pretty terrible ad, and the below video’s quality is horrible. But Will Ferrell is in it, and lots of people will want to watch it, regardless. So here it is. Enjoy! Or don’t. Whatever.

Rare is the moment when we catch the seminal moments in the careers of comedians and entertainers in general when things perhaps started in their favor. And with the breaking news that the movie Smashed, after its showing at the Sundance Film Festival, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for $1 million, that might be exactly what we’re witnessing for the film’s co-writer– comedian, actress and writer Susan Burke.

Some call it “that one break” while others stay cautious about their optimism because of past experience. For Burke, — Smashed — is the first film she wrote; and the progress of the project is a great snapshot of the varied roads that comedy can take a person down, up, and around. Coming up through the stand-up scene in LA, being a part of the hilarious sketch group Birds of Prey, Burke laid out the path for us in this interview (which took place well before the film premiered at Sundance) that she’s walked in comedy.

With all that’s happening to you right now, how are you feeling now about your comedy?
Oh gosh, I don’t know. It weird because the film I wrote, Smashed, it started out as a comedy. That was our intention and, as we were writing, “Oh, this is going to be a dark comedy,” and now it’s not a comedy. It’s a drama, I think. There are funny parts to it and, as a writer, those are my favorite things. My favorite movies are serious but have funny parts. I’m really happy about that, but it’s kind of weird because all I’ve done is comedy and now I’m starting to do stuff that isn’t comedy at all.

You say it’s not a comedy, but is it in the vein of some of the episodes of Season 2 of Louie where people debate, “Is this even comedy?”
Maybe. I mean, some Louie episodes are depressing, but great and I think I don’t want to compare it to anything yet.

I asked about how you feel about your comedy because this seems like that break that, a few years from now, you might say, “This happened and everything blew up.”
I hope so because I think I’ve had a couple falls, things that I thought were my break or I thought, “Oh! So this happened and now I’m going to be really successful.”

I feel like I’ve been around long enough and sort of watched people get successful that should get successful and watch people get successful that shouldn’t get successful and I would really like it if I got to write and perform and not have to work a day job for awhile.

Walk us through the process of getting the film made. How did it get made and how did you end up getting such an amazing cast with Aaron Paul, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally?
Well, James and I started writing it a couple of years ago. James is my friend and he doesn’t do comedy. He’s a more dramatic writer and he’s written a lot of things. He wrote and directed a movie in 2006 called Off the Black that went to Sundance. It’s a really good movie.

We became friends and he asked if I wanted to co-write this with him. He kind of had this idea about a couple struggling with alcoholism and he didn’t know how to go about it. He wanted to bring out the humor in it. He knew that I knew about comedy and alcoholism, then he asked me to write it with him. Then, we wrote it and it was like the best and easiest writing process ever. Then, different people read it. The people that produced it, Super Crispy Entertainment, they got it and decided to work on it.

They just read it and fell in love with the project?
There was plenty of rewrites and notes. There always are.

You said that James came to you because you knew about both comedy and alcoholism. How much of Smashed is grounded in your life in the past like your one-woman storytelling show Smoke. Worry. Fuck.?
It’s not autobiographical in any way, but there are experiences in the movie that really happened to me and that’s something that I want to be really careful to let people know that this isn’t my story, then people find out, “You were never married. You weren’t a teacher,” and it be like the book A Million Little Pieces, that book that turned out to be fake. It’s not about my life, but I do think a lot of stuff that deals with alcoholism deals with it from a “Lifetime-y” cheesy point of view and it’s either very pro-this or anti-this and we wanted sort of a neutral take on it and how it really is.

The Hallway – watch more funny videos

That’s often times the best way to go about touchy subjects like alcoholism. With that in mind, I wanted to ask you how much honesty do you think, I wouldn’t say valid, but is acceptable in comedy or should be mined?
Personally, I usually like comedy that is silly and not necessarily honest. I don’t like feeling like I’m a comedian’s therapist sitting in the audience. I never want to make people feel that way. The one person show [Smoke. Worry. Fuck.] that I did was really honest and I wanted to tell that part of my life because I’ve never really told it in comedy, but I’ve never really felt comfortable getting up on stage and airing dirty laundry and it makes me really uncomfortable when people talk about other people.

I try to make sure I don’t use people’s names or say “Oh, so-and-so…” especially since comedy is such a small world and chances are that that person is there or knows someone that’s there, so I try to not… unless it’s a positive thing, you know? I think it’s really un-classy to talk about ex’s or whatever. I mean I had an ex write a blog about me and I got hate mail from kids.

That’s an interesting discrepancy that are plenty of people that disagree with you and just go right ahead with being completely honest. I would say that there’s validity on both sides as there are comedians who are honest, but it’s terrible and not funny, however there are lot that make it hilarious because they’re so open with how messed up it is.
I think if you’re good at it, then that’s what you should do, if you’re comfortable doing it. I don’t think there should be any rules to comedy other than if it’s funny; it’s comedy. If it’s not, maybe it’s something else. I’m always open to that. Maybe it’s not comedy; it’s interesting. When people are like, “You have to be honest.” No, you don’t. There’s a lot of shit that’s really funny that isn’t honest.

So, how did Smashed go from being a comedy to drama?
Well, it was never a balls out crazy comedy. We wanted to tell an honest story and we knew there would be dramatic parts in it and that it would be mostly dramatic, but to have a funny take on it. I think with the performances, it just came out more serious than it would. It’s better than I thought it would be, too.

Even with the draft that you guys had, did you both still read it as a comedy– and then when it was filmed it became a drama?
It’s kind of up to the viewer, really. My favorite stuff is Alexander Payne. All of his stuff is really funny and really serious like his first movie, Citizen Ruth, is about a crazy person and about crazy shit and really serious issues, but it’s also hilarious and all of his stuff is like that. Election is more a straight comedy… and The Descendants is a crazy sad movie.

Sideways, for how funny it is, has very serious moments where my little sister fell asleep.
I think that’s how people are. If it’s only comedy or only drama, it’s the worst to be stuck in a really dramatic movie with no breaks, but also, I find it hard to be around 100 percent comedy all the time.

It’s the best somewhere in the middle.
Most people who are comedians, I think, have had something happen to them, and not to play into a stereotype like “sad clown” or something, that are different than people who don’t want to go into comedy. Their perspective is to turn things to humor. That could mean bad stuff has happened or life was just boring and you just tried to make it funny, you know? I think that there should be comedy in everything, but when it’s all comedy, it’s like “Shut up, dude.”

Yep. So often, a laugh every seven seconds is sought after, but some of the greatest comedic moments come from building up tension and then there’s this dramatic shift, which is what makes those stories in Smoke. Worry. Fuck. so great.
Thank you.

There are plenty of comedy purists that would argue that you’re wasting time, but I think that it’s good to have both comedic paces mixed in.
I want to do more serious stuff because that’s life, you know? And now that I’m a happier person in my life, I want do more serious stuff whereas more as depressed person, I kind of needed comedy more and now I don’t need as much.

That’s definitely a revelation.
I still need comedy.

If this hits big, do you think you’ll go into screenwriting and have stand-up and sketch on the backburner for a while?
I don’t know. I mean I’m writing more stuff now. I kind of think, just realistically, for me, that I’m probably more a writer than a performer in the long run that just when I’m 60, I can still write. And if I wanted to have kids and stuff, I wouldn’t be wanting to do stand-up. Obviously, there are moms who do stand-up and they’re amazing, and I’m not saying that I’m pregnant. I think it’d be sort of an easier life and I really like performing and I really like acting too. Stand-up and sketch has been more for fun for me anyway but maybe I just tell myself that because I haven’t been super successful in it. I’ve gotten to do cool stuff and open for cool people, but I’ve never been…

…a breakout star?
Yeah and I think my stand-up really isn’t “breakout star” stand-up, you know? I mean, it’s great. It’s the best stand-up there is, but…

I think that’s sometimes the attitude you have to have in comedy. Even self-deprecating people, they have to think in the back of their mind, “I may hate myself, but I’m better than these people.”
That’s the thing. I love doing comedy, but I know I don’t love doing comedy as much as some people do. I think I used to love it as much those people do, but I see people that are like 20-30 years into doing stand-up and I admire them greatly, but that’s just probably not me.

And that’s completely fine. It’s a grueling process.
But then, there’s that instant, thing too. I don’t know if I ever could not perform stuff. I mean, who knows? I really like doing monologues and more serious stuff like my one-person show, but it’s kind of fun to just go up and fuck around. So, I probably will always do some of that.

Good. I’m glad.
And that sounds really presumptuous like, “Oh, this is my 10 year plan…”

If Smashed is a hit, and as other comedians who became famous for one thing and then pursued something completely different struggle with, would you change your stand-up and sketch?
My boyfriend pointed out the other day that “You just got into Sundance and you talk about poop all the time,” and I think that sometimes, I’ve gotten messages from people like, “I just started following you on Twitter and then it’s just a bunch of weird jokes and stuff.” People will always not get stuff and you can do one thing and do another thing too.

With the avenues of distribution, now, or the way people watch your stuff whether you’ve written it and other people perform it or you do it yourself, do you think that such a disconnect won’t be a problem?
I don’t think so. I don’t say or do anything that’s really offensive or anything or too different. One thing that I’m worried about because of Smashed and that one person show like I don’t want people to think, “That’s Susan Burke. She always talks about alcoholism,” and Smashed is mostly a relationship story and that’s an element to it, when actually, I hardly ever talk about that.

Yeah, you want to be known for shitting on trust fund kids (Susan Burke has a really funny joke making fun of trust fund kids, prehistoric times, prostitution, and Brooklyn).
Right.

I guess I’ll ask you one last thing–
Wait. Let me ask you this. You mentioned you do research for interviews. I’m curious. What is out there about me? Nothing, right?

I know you personally and I’ve been to your shows and was even able to cleverly reference a joke of yours. That’s been the research. Years of it. Thus, I didn’t Google your name.
Well, [I ask because] there’s a lot of negative stuff about me because I’ve gotten death threats for doing Bjork blogs. I have these videos like three years ago and I got one death threat. And I shouldn’t be blowing this out of proportion, but I did these Bjork videos and every now and then I got an e-mail that said, “I’m gonna kill you, you stupid bitch and slit your throat for making fun of Bjork,” which is the weirdest.. and I had to call the FBI and read it to them.

It says, “I’m going to kill you, you stupid bitch, cut you into a million pieces for making fun of Bjork,” and the lady at the FBI started laughing. There are hardcore Bjork fans and on the YouTube ones, there are all these negative comments that are just like “I hate this bitch. She should die.” Really weird stuff. I guess nothing else I’ve done has been as polarizing, but I feel like people on the Internet are mean.

Thankfully, you’re here and you didn’t get killed. With all that in mind and all you’ve been through, did you see yourself getting here now?
It’s weird. Yes and no. I’ve always had a confidence that something is going to work out and I know that I’m good at stuff, but I’ve had dumb stuff where I’ve been fired by agents and managers and I’ve thought that I booked something and I didn’t and I’ve turned down something where then later I was like, “That was the dumbest thing I could have possibly done.”

When I was six months into comedy, I remember, right away, I got to do Comedy Death Ray (one of LA’s best live comedy shows) and stuff I was just like, “Wow, I guess I’m just going to be a comedian.” Then I saw all these people that I started out with get really big and was just like, “Oh, OK.” Then, I got resentful, “When the fuck is my turn?”

I think everything, and this sounds cheesy, but I think that things happen as they’re supposed to, you know? I mean, there are always going to be shitty people getting famous or whatever for being really shitty. I think that my goal is never to be famous. My goal is, whether it’s comedy or writing or film or books, I just want to put something good out there.

That’s all you can do. If you want to get famous, rob a bank.
Or make a sex tape.

Yep.
I would like only the people that I think are cool to know who I am and no one else be interested.

You can follow Susan on Twitter @thatsusanburke, and check her site for dates of her stand-up, sketch, and more.

Though it hasn’t been officially announced yet, Laughspin can confirm that there will be no less than eight popular comedy podcasts represented at this year’s comedy portion of Austin’s South By Southwest arts festival, including WTF with Marc Maron, Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson and The Smartest Man In The World with Greg Proops.

In addition to that stellar trio, the following podcasts will also be recording live versions of their shows: Comedy Bang Bang with Scott Aukerman, You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, Sklarbro Country with Jason and Randy Sklar, Who Charted? with Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack and Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show. Actor Jeffrey Tambor will be a guest on Maron’s show; more guest news will be available in the following weeks.

This year’s festival boasts two more nights of comedy than last year; with two new venues and a host of comedy-related discussion panels scheduled, the comedy portion of the fest will run from March 10 until March 17.

“The music/comedy connection is an old story. People in bands tend to be comedy fans, and a lot of comedians wish they were in bands. So it’s a natural fit,” Janeane Garofalo, comedian and past SXSW performer has said about the extended comedy programming. “I’m a sucker for walking up Congress Street and stopping at every craft table and cupcake truck. And for seeing any off-the-beaten-path band that’s playing in a yard or a parking lot.”

Complete info on the fest can be found at SXSW.

In The Fray Magazine | Call for Submissions | February 2012: Debt

Note: This month we are looking in particular for photo essays. Please email us at submissions@inthefray.org if you are a photographer and have work to submit or ideas for a potential project.

Scan a recent headline and there is something about debt: budget deficits, toxic mortgages, leveraged buyouts. Lending greases the gears of our economic machine. In The Fray wants to look at “debt” in all its senses, financial and otherwise. Debts in our relationships, debts in our culture. The perpetual indebtedness of modern life, and the obligations passed down through generations. Forgiveness of debts — those of a person, or a country. Tell us your stories of a debt that was held, paid, or forgotten. Review a book or film that says something meaningful about those of us who owe money or something more. Send us interviews, profiles, and photos of people and groups that bring new meaning to the age-old relationship between debtor and creditor.

We are currently accepting pitches for articles that relate to this theme or more generally to the magazine’s mission of understanding other people and encouraging empathy and tolerance. We are looking for profiles, interviews, reportage, personal essays, op-eds, travel writing, photo essays, artwork, videos, multimedia projects, and review essays of books, film, music, and art. If interested, please email submissions@inthefray.org with a well-developed, one-paragraph pitch for your proposed piece as soon as possible — along with three links to your previous work — NO LATER THAN MARCH 7, 2012. All contributors are urged to review our submissions guidelines at http://inthefray.org/submit.

We are also looking for writers, photographers, and artists who can take care of specific assignments, including interviews, book and film reviews, and accompanying photos and artwork. If interested, please follow the instructions at the bottom of http://inthefray.org/submit to join our contributors mailing list.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Editors of In The Fray Magazine
submissions@inthefray.org

A few days ago, hugely popular NPR show This American Life broadcasted a performance that found comedian Danny Lobell relating a richly hilarious and endearing story to an audience at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The story centers around Lobell and “Blanco,” one of the Ecuadorian gangsters that live in the same building in Brooklyn. Lobell, determined to finally clean up the eye sore that was their backyard, found a motivated helper — and, as host Ira Glass points out, eventually a friend — in “Blanco.” Also, there were chickens.

You can listen to the full story below.

Photo By Richard Freeman.

If you’re at all familiar with the comedy of Mitch Fatel, you know that he’s a complete perv (aka an honest dude). Well, he and his amazingly attractive fiance Jessica are swingers, for real, as he explains in this CNN Comedy video below. But more importantly, Fatel seriously propositions NFL quarterbacks Eli Manning — he lives in the same building as Fatel does — and/or Aaron Rodgers to participate in a wife swap. All the details are below. Enjoy!

With 30 Rock‘s ratings falling lower than the show it replaced mid-season, it seems Community has an even better chance of returning– maybe even a little sooner than expected. Last night’s episode of 30 Rock — down 19 percent from last week — was the lowest viewership its earned since the series debuted in 2006.

And even though the network never said Community would never return — they said it’s on hiatus — fans and stars of the show have been still entwined in makeshift “Save Community” efforts– like the most recent one starring Donald Glover, who plays Troy.

Community fans, however, should find comfort in the surfacing of two episode titles on IMDB: “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts” and “Pillows and Blankets.” Fans should also feel good about comedian Eddie Pepitone telling Laughspin that he was set to film scenes for an upcoming episode.

No matter what you think of Bobcat Goldthwait and his former trademark squeaky voice in his stand-up and in movies, he has proven himself quite the writer and director. Sleeping Dogs Lie, directing episodes of Chappelle’s Show, and World’s Greatest Dad represent a body of work of a dark-comedy genius.

His latest movie God Bless America, as evidenced by its trailer, certainly seems no different. The movie follows the murderous rampage of the evils of current civilization like reality TV, extremely homophobic Christians and legitimate rudeness. It’s the type of film that will be written about how controversial it is or how not controversial it is for attacking the big targets in pop culture. However, given Goldthwait’s track record, it will be pitch perfect in its subversiveness. Take a taste below.

We reported last month that the casting process had begun for Sarah Silverman’s single-camera comedy pilot for NBC . Well, its been announced that comedian and Sarah’s BFF Tig Notaro has joined the cast!

Notaro, who was a regular on Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program, was a natural choice. She will play a lesbian mother of a 4-year-old living in Susan’s (Silverman) apartment building in Manhattan. The character, described, by the Hollywood Reporter, as an outgoing, odd “tiny Tom Cruise,” befriends Susan. Notaro, who has also appeared on Community and and did voice work on the animated The Life & Times of Tim, joins cast members Harris Wittels (Parks and Recreation, writer), June Diane Raphael (NTSF:SD:SUV), and Ken Leung (Lost).

The veteran comic also co-hosts the popular podcast Professor Blastoff and last year released her debut stand-up comedy album Good One. She also had a killer set on Conan in December, which you should totally check out below.

No jokes. No satire. No political pranks. Last night, comedian and trailblazing television star, writer and producer Roseanne Barr announced that she has filed the necessary paperwork to seek the Green Party presidential nomination.

Back in August on The Tonight Show, Barr made an overlooked announcement (see video below) that she intended to run for this country’s highest public office. Since then, she has built a grassroots campaign, appealing to the self-annointed (and highly popular) 99%. “The Democrats and Republicans have proven that they are servants — bought and paid for by the 1 percent — who are not doing what’s in the best interest of the American people,” Barr said. Buying candidates could not be more topical, in light of the recent Supreme Court-approved Super PACs which allow corporations to anonymously donate limitless amounts of money to a campaign, a crucially important topic brought to attention by fellow funny people Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart.

But unlike the Comedy Central duo, Barr plans on delivering promises, not punch lines, to the people. She says she has been a long-time supporter of the Green Party and its values, one of which is a position of not accepting donations from corporations, which would theoretically exclude corporate influence over governmental practice. Other guiding principles of the party are environmental awareness, social justice and decentralization of government. It’ll be interesting to see Barr accomplish either one of these two things: 1) making people take her seriously during this campaign and 2) establishing a political platform that would challenge the current candidates. Personally, I would love to see her in a debate with Obama and RomTorumRich, just to call them out on their bullshit.

The Green Party will announce its presidential nominee at their convention in Baltimore in July. Is her candidacy a severe possibility? Sure. She has a celebrity that would bring a legitimate awareness to the party, at least to the extent to cause her fans to Wikipedia “Green Party.” Is her presidency probable? Not really. But if she gets nominated, I hope she brings John Goodman on the campaign trail.

Would you vote for Roseanne? Sound off in the comments section.

A few years ago, the idea of launching a comedy podcast was considered an innovative one. Today, however, there are more than 16 billion comedy podcasts (that’s an estimate). The point is, there’s so many — and so many quality comedy podcasts — that it’s not at all insane to establish a podcast festival. And that’s exactly what comedian Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini (co-hosts of the popular podcast Comedy Film Nerds) along with Dave Anthony (Walking The Room podcast) and Andy Wood (founder of the well-respected Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland) have done. At least, that’s what they’re trying to do.

The Los Angeles Podcast Festival will go down Oct. 12-14 in Santa Monica at the Sheraton Delfina if the aforementioned names could raise at least $20,000 through Kickstarter. The concept behind the festival is simple: imagine a live comedy festival, but replace stand-up, sketch and improv performances with live tapings of comedy podcasts. On the last day of the festival, however, there will be an all-star blowout stand-up comedy show. The tentative podcast lineup is an impressive one:

- Marc Maron’s WTF

- Jimmy Pardo’s Never Not Funny

- Todd Glass’s The Todd Glass Show

- Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini’s Comedy Film Nerds

- Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony’s Walking the Room

- Jackie Kashian’s The Dork Forest

- Mike Schmidt’s The 40-Year-Old Boy

- Al Madrigal, Maz Jobrani and Chris Spencer’s The Minivan Men

- Lynette Carolla and Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s For Crying Out Loud

You can check out the festival’s official Kickstarter page here to learn more. Or, if you’re really lazy you can just watch this video. We get it. Reading hurts, sometimes.

It’s been ages since we’ve seen a new episode of The Donaghy Files, the popular web-only, animated spinoff from the creative minds at 30 Rock. For the uninitiated, all you need know is that Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is a bad-ass executive with super powers.

In the newest installment, Donaghy, on behalf of Cabletown, finds himself in a bind. You see, Madonna has bailed out on performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show (she was involved in a freak accident; and she was nude at the time) and because Madge’s payday was so large, there’s no money left to pay a replacement. There’s other reasons too, as you’ll see. Enter: Michael McDonald, Ryan Adams and Childish Gambino (Donald Glover from Community). I’m going to leave it at that, for fear of ruining any of the real fun. Just check it out below and enjoy!

You can watch past episodes of The Donaghy Files here.

If you caught Dave Grohl’s appearance on After Lately a few Sundays ago (not to mention his Daily Show interviews), you know the Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer can pull off some comedy. In this particular episode comedian and Chelsea Lately writer Jen Kirkman stalks Grohl on Twitter and the musician doesn’t respond all too well (see the video below).

And now, it looks like Grohl is entering the funny business officially. And he couldn’t have chosen a better television comedy mind with whom to partner: veteran comedian Dana Gould. That’s right, folks, Grohl is set to executive produce a half-hour comedy for FX, created, written and produced by Gould, a longtime Simpsons scribe. The show will center around “a rock band on the verge of mega-stardom who finds itself on the verge of breaking up and is forced to seek professional help in a last-ditch effort to stay together. Unfortunately, they end up with a misanthropic couple’s therapist from Agoura on the brink of divorce,” reports Deadline.

If the show is given a proper series order, it will join a healthy list of envelope-pushing sitcoms on the FX. Currently the network is home to Louis C.K.’s gritty Louie, the bizarre dark comedy Wilfred (with Elijah Wood), the nearly R-rated and animated Archer (Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler) as well as The League, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the just-premiered animated series Unsupervised. FX will also be debuting Charlie Sheen’s new comedy Anger Management and comedian Russell Brand’s own late-night chat show.

In the event you needed to be reminded that we’re lucky to be living in this country, let me submit to you the case of the Egyptian comedian. Forty-year veteran comic actor Adel Imam — one of the biggest entertainers in the Arab world — has been given a three-month jail sentence, having “offended Islam, its symbols, including beards and the jilbab, a loose-fitting garment worn by some Muslims,” according to the Guardian.

The case was filed on the heels of a parliamentary election, where Islamists won most of the seats. “I think the lawyer who filed the case against Imam is taking advantage of the current circumstances with Islamists gaining power in Egypt,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah, an analyst and at al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. This theory makes sense, seeing as the charges against the comedian are not against any relatively new projects. The filing cites a number of his performances and appearances he’d made throughout his long career.

For now, Imam remains free and has one month to appeal. If he doesn’t appeal or if his appeal is denied, he’ll be expected to serve the full three-month sentence.

Just this morning, our pals at Huffington Post Comedy, posted an excellent roundtable discussion featuring comedians W. Kamau Bell, Desiree Burch, Michael Che, Calise Hawkins, Phoebe Robinson and Baron Vaughn, in honor of Black History Month. The discussion spanned what it means to be a black comedian today, how socio-political comedy plays to American audiences going through tough economic times, and a lot more. In the below excerpt, Vaughn examines legendary comedian Dick Gregory’s thoughts on Richard Pryor’s stage act and how it relates to Pryor’s contemporary, Eddie Murphy. Check it out below and be sure to read the entire discussion over at HuffPo.

Baron: Well you know, something that I always loved, that Dick Gregory said about Pryor, he talked about the generation of comedians that followed Pryor, and he said something about how if you took Pryor’s quote-unquote foul language out of his act, then his genius is still apparent. But he thought that what happened was people came up that were copying the surface of what Pryor was doing, copying the language and felt that that was the key to the content. And in my personal opinion, and this is going to be the most controversial possible thing I could say, but I personally think that Eddie Murphy is the best-slash-worst thing that has happened to black comedy.

Phoebe: I could see what you’re saying with that.

Calise: Right, because that cadence and that sense of humor… a lot of people take from that.

Baron: Exactly, a lot of black comedians said, “Hey I can do this.” So he made it ok, or people felt, “Oh, I can have a voice on stage, too,” but then at the same time, people were copying this bravado, if you will.

Kamau: Here’s the thing: when people talk about Eddie Murphy as a stand-up, one thing that I’ve realized recently, is that he stopped doing stand-up when he was like in his mid-20s. His stand-up career only lasted publicly for like 6 or 7 years.

Desiree: That was a big 6 or 7 years, shit.

Kamau: I’m just saying, I feel like his stand-up career was not finished, you know what I mean?

Desiree: Yea, I know.

Baron: Absolutely.

Kamau: I feel like we’re judging Eddie Murphy. Like he’s one of the most gifted comedians of all time, no question, and I sort of feel like it’s like an athlete who sort of pulled out right as he might have gotten really good.

Desiree: Yea, and it takes that time of earning it and working at it and figuring out what exactly you actually have to say.

Feel free to sound off in the comments section!

First things first: If you don’t traditionally like Tim & Eric’s 11-minute episodes on Adult Swim, then their new film isn’t for you. If you’ve ever watched the first five minutes of one of their episodes, cringed and changed the channel, then their new film isn’t worth your money. If you can only watch their show when under the influence and with friends, I suggest this is how you go see the movie. Okay? Okay. Now let us continue.

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie isn’t in theaters until March 3 but you can find it on the Internet (both legally and in a pirate-y version but we do not condone this) and that is exactly what I did (the legal version, you guys!). I have always enjoyed Tim & Eric’s sketches, and the obvious concern with bringing sketch characters into a feature film is whether or not they work for 90 minutes. To my delight, the story was there, and though extreme and often crass, you wouldn’t expect anything else from these two. They took the R-rating the film has and squeezed it for all it was worth.

In the flick, Tim & Eric — that’s Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim — get themselves into hot water when they get paid $1 billion to make a huge movie for the sadistic Mr. Shlaaang (played by Robert Loggia). The duo spent so much money on their makeovers and other insane production perks that they must pay Mr. Shlaaang back or else he’ll kill them without blinking an eye.

An advertisement from S’Wallow Mall President Damien Wiebs (played by Will Ferrell) gives the guys a chance to make their billion back, if only they can turn around his mall. The mall is foul, and full of terrible people played by the likes of John C. Reilly, Will Forte and Twink Caplan (who I fell in love with in 1995, when she played Miss Geist in Clueless). The film highlights a variety of upsetting sex acts, a religion whose followers will haunt my dreams, and no shortage of cringe-able moments. Other guest stars include Zach Galifianakis, Jeff Goldblum and various other character actors who you swear you’ve seen before– because you probably have.

For two men who have pushed limits of television for years, this is exactly what I expected from them on the big screen. Just like anything else they have put out, they’ve made it because they love it and they want to entertain. If you don’t like their show, you won’t like this. But if you’re a fan of the show, you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

I will say, however, that watching the movie in a theater full of other fans would have been fun. Hell, it would have been cool to see someone get annoyed and leave at the first sign of elderly abuse or gratuitous masturbation. Watching the movie on my iPad while on the couch didn’t have the same kind of energy I think the movie deserves. If you’re not a die-hard T&E fan who has already rented it online, I would suggest waiting to see it in the theater because I kind of wish I had.

American comedian David Fulton learned today that while the word “wanker” (as its said here in the States) is a B-level slag, but in the UK, it’s an A-level swear word. How did he learn this? He said it on a national, morning television show. It was so bad, that in addition to profusely apologizing on air, the BBC issued a formal apology. “Unfortunately, a guest used a swearword live on-air this morning. Both Sian and Bill [the show hosts] apologised immediately and again at the end of the interview. We are sorry for any offence caused.”

Check out the video below.

Life ain’t easy for the forgotten siblings of pop culture superstars. The Ashlee Simpson. The unspoken Osbourne brother. Khloe “The Beast” Kardashian. Just ask Jordan Bieber, the “Baby” singer’s older brother.

Comedian Ted Alexandro and Hollis James’ latest video Nepotizzle: Jordan Bieber shows the behind-the-brotherly-scenes exclusive look at the making of “Old World.” In the video, we see Bieber work with his dancers in preparation for a show in a food court; the purple-hoody-clad singer consults his swag coach, Ryan Best; and prepares his clothing line, Other Brother Fashions, available at Walgreens.

Check out Alexandro get hyped as Jordan Bieber…emphasis on the Bieber.