INCOMING: The Kids Are Still Alright

  At The Merriam Theater June 8th. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 AM. CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND: Despite its close proximity [to SNL], the Lorne Michaels-produced Canadian sketch comedy series broke far more ground, relying less on pop culture or topical impersonations and more on social anxieties revolving around subjects like sexuality, gender, faith, the workplace, and family. Sometimes it was flat-out stupid (McKinney’s Chicken Lady), often it was scandalous (Thompson’s Buddy Cole), and every now and then it cracked into the nonsensical (30 Helens).Most of the time, the five disguised themselves in drag, poking fun at stereotypes and […]

NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

  FRESH AIR Seth Meyers already had his dream job — as the host of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, “I sort of had already accomplished the job I never thought I would accomplish,” he tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. He joined the cast in 2001 and was there for 12 years. But in one of the recent rounds of musical chairs/desks in the late night talk show scene, Meyers landed Late Night. Lorne Michaels, executive producer of Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show and Late Night, encouraged Meyers to host the soon-to-be-vacated 12:30 a.m. spot and make it his […]

MIA: Good Night Mr. Mooney, Wherever You Are

  BY BRIEN ERICK EDWARDS A couple weeks ago the boss man at Phawker HQ assigned me to interview comedic legend Mr. Paul Mooney. The boss man said he jumped at the prospect of landing an interview with the controversial writer and comedian because A) controversy is what makes the Internet go round and  B) Mooney is a fascinating, if self-sabotaging, figure who has worked with some of the best in the comedic world, including Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle. So we worked up a bunch of questions that spanned his career, including his work with Pryor and Chappelle, along […]

REMINDER: This Is Why We Still Miss Chris Farley

Let’s just get this out of the way: Nevermind the naysayers that mindlessly parrot the SNL HAS JUMPED THE SHARK meme, the incontrovertible reality is the show is funnier than it has ever been. Much funnier. Specifically the female cast members. You can check out some of the best bits from this past year HERE. But our hands-down favorite will always be Chris Farley. His comedy — hell his lifestyle — is best described as A Hippopotamus On Angel Dust In The Swarovski Crystal Shop Of Life. Which is why, of course, he was not long for this world. We […]

SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The National Debt Lie And The Lamestream Media That Makes It All Possible

  BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “We must slash entitlement programs in order to reduce the national debt and restore fiscal sanity to the budget process.” Where have we heard that before? Well, no matter how often or how loudly the right wing regurgitates it, it will still be the same excremental lie it has always been. And, yes, you can indeed thank America’s mainstream media, those constitutionally vested stewards of liberty, those incorruptible, inextinguishable lodestars of enlightenment whose number one reason for being is to expose lies and disseminate truth to the American people, for perpetuating the deceit. Alas, with […]

SINEAD v. MILEY: Nothing Compares 2U

Illustration by COREY ADAMS BY AMY Z. QUINN Well, poopies, it seems like only yesterday that your Citizen Mom was here begging Britney and Lindsay to please put away their vaginas, thanks. But that was way back in 2006, LaLohan is sober for the upteenth time and Britney is a single mom working the 9-to-5 shift at the dream factory. They grow up so fast. Well, they age, anyway, usually far beyond their years. And so will Miley, which is why I tend to believe her wide-eyed protestations to the Today Show that her naked-licking antics are just her being […]

Q&A w/ Comedian John Mulaney, Ex-SNL Writer, Stefon Co-Creator, Couldbe TV Sitcom Star

  BY JONATHAN VALANIA As co-creator of the ever-popular Stefon (‘New York’s hottest club is…’) sketch on SNL, comedian John Mulaney is probably better-known for his work behind the camera than in front of it, but that will change soon. Last Friday we got Mulaney on the horn in advance of his appearance at the Dave Chappelle-starring Oddball Fest at the Susquehanna Bank Center tomorrow night. DISCUSSED: Dave Chappelle walking offstage in Hartford, writing for SNL, inventing Stefon, making Bill Hader break character and laugh on live national television, that status of his in-development sitcom Mulaney, co-starring Dana Carvey and […]

BLOWING OUR MIND: Ye’s Black Skinhead Video

  Have to say, we long ago gave up on Kanye West, thinking his shameless blingfoolery and relentless attention-whoring was making his ego’s ass look ginormous and insufferably baby-mannish. When he went full retardashian we were done. But his stunning performance on the season finale of SNL made us re-think the dismissal. Now comes this fairly astonishing video for “Black Skinhead.” It’s interactive in ways we are still trying to understand (so you have to go watch it HERE), but the track crushes (dig the Gary Glitter rip/trib) and visually-speaking this is some next level shit.

Kanye To Beam “New Slaves” Across Philly Skyline

Have to say, we long ago gave up on Ye, thinking his shameless blingfoolery and relentless attention-whoring was making his ego’s ass look ginormous and insufferably baby-mannish. When he went full retardashian we were done. But his stunning performance last week on the season finale of SNL made us re-think the dismissal. Now comes word he will be beaming the video for the new single “New Slaves” across three buildings around Philly between 10-11 pm tonight (Eastern State Penitentiary, Franklin Institute and the Barnes Foundation) as part of a global promotional campaign where all the world’s buildings are a screen.

RECONSIDERED: The Dishonesty Of Wired

  SLATE: “The greatest crime of that book,” Landis says of Wired, “is that if you read it and you’d just assume that John was a pig and an asshole, and he was anything but. He could be abrupt and unpleasant, but most of the time he was totally charming and people adored him.” The wrongness in Woodward’s reporting is always ever so subtle. SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue—who died before I started the book but who videotaped an interview with Judy years before—told this story about how Belushi loved to mess with him: I am very anal-retentive, and John used […]