Labors of Love and Drinking Urine: Getting Uncomfortable with Tim Heidecker

Fans of comedic renaissance man Tim Heidecker are likely to find his dramatic turn in Rick Alverson’s “The Comedy” profoundly disturbing, in no small part because his approach to drama is eerily similar to his approach to comedy. Heidecker and perpetual collaborator Eric Wareheim (who also features in “The Comedy”) have built a unique comedy brand in the past decade. Their TV shows (“Tom Goes to the Mayor,” “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” “Check It Out! with Dr. […]

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Junot Díaz Geeks Out Over Comics With Vol. 1

In addition to being a Pulitzer-winning, chart-topping novelist and short story writer, Junot Díaz is more than a little nerdy. Okay, very nerdy. His work — including his latest story collection, This is How You Lose Her — is filled with references to geek-culture touchstones that blend seamlessly with historical analysis and intimate struggle. And towering above all else, his fiction is filled with references to comic books. But no one had ever interviewed him just about those comics. That’s […]

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Scott Aukerman Has Learned from Kelsey Grammer’s Mistakes

IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! is, on some level, a talk show hosted by comedy veterans Scott Aukerman and Reggie Watts and loosely tied to Aukerman’s hit podcast of the same name. But it seems to occupy a terrifying reality that only bears a loose resemblance to our own: on any given episode, a lovable talking bird might get eviscerated, Scott might accidentally send himself to hell, or an attempt to show a movie clip might devolve into a disorienting feedback […]

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Chickens, Psychopaths, and Surfing: A Chat with Kurt Braunohler

  There’s something profoundly dystopian about Bunk, the not-exactly-game-show that’s finishing up its first season on IFC. On it, stand-up comics and sketch performers are forced into improv-based challenges that include insulting puppies or drawing new appendages to the crotch of Michelangelo’s David. And all the while, the barefoot host — played with terrifying confidence by New York-based comic Kurt Braunohler — will do things like force his intern to sift through glass shards or threaten to murder his viewers. […]

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Shooing Away Shrooms Dealers and Other Comedy Lessons: A Conversation With Lizz Winstead

There are a lot of comedians on tour today who can make fart jokes about the GOP, but very few who have legitimately changed American political discourse. Lizz Winstead is one of that rare handful. Along with collaborator Madeleine Smithberg, she created The Daily Show. Since leaving the show in 1998 (after alleged clashes with then-host Craig Kilborn), she’s remained a major presence in American comedy and commentary: she co-created Air America Radio, bringing on talents like Rachel Maddow and […]

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Review: Brian Francis Slattery’s ‘Dense, Meditative Apocalypse-saga’ “Lost Everything”

Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery Tor; 304 p. At this point, a global ecological collapse is so certain that the best we can hope for is that it looks pretty. Or at least that it gives us a chance to get back to basics and mull over some weighty philosophical matters as the final day approaches. Is that so much to ask? Meager pleasures like those lie at the core of Brian Francis Slattery’s dense, meditative apocalypse-saga, Lost Everything. […]

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