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Top Ten Videos of 2010: 3. Garfunkel & Oates, “Pregnant Women Are Smug”

January 8, 2011 | 2 comments

G&O_logo

G&O logo

Keen observers will have already spotted that Garfunkel & Oates appeared in the “Laugh It Out” section of the C&B blogroll several weeks ago. Like one of my previous list-ees, original credit for bringing G&O to my attention is due to the WTF with Marc Maron podcast — specifically, a live episode from early 2010 that featured Kate Micucci (a.k.a. “Oates,” the brunette one). Her abundant charm came through in her conversation with Maron, and I found her solo voice-and-ukelele ditties delightful.1 Googling for more, I discovered her having formed a duo with Riki Lindhome (a.k.a. “Garfunkel,” the blonde one) and I was an immediate fan.

G&O make what they call “couch videos” of new songs they write and post them on YouTube. My listing the following video of “Pregnant Women are Smug” at #3 in my 2010 Top Ten is a little bit of a cheat, because their original YouTube video of the song appeared in April of 2009. But in 2010 they made their first national TV appearances — three, in fact, on The Tonight Show — and this is my favorite of them.

UPDATE (3/20/2011): NBC, in their infinite wisdom, has taken down the G&O Tonight Show videos to make way for newer Leno clips. You suck, NBC. To fill the video void, I’m sticking in the original 2009 “couch video” of the song. Thanks to commenter Siobhan for alerting me to the situation.

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Top Ten Videos of 2010: 5. Comedy Fights Malaria, “Bobby Bottleservice Gets Serious” [NSFW]

January 4, 2011 | Comment

kroll

Nick Kroll as Fabrice Fabrice
(Photo: Flickr/gaelenh)

The twice-weekly podcast WTF with Marc Maron (see also: “Worthy Podcasts” in my home page sidebar) has given me a window into what is going on in the world of stand-up comedy, how it interconnects to the broader realm of show business, and the varying trials and triumphs of the comics from their own perspectives. On a somewhat less profound note, it has also pointed my attention to a lot of really goddamned funny people.

One of these is Nick Kroll. Many know him as a cast member of the TV series The League on FX, although I’m still not yet one of them.1 I don’t know what the correct comedy-speak term is for Kroll’s overall schtick, but I’ll take my best shot by describing him as (mainly) a bag-of-characters comic. His douchebag extraordinaire creation Bobby Bottleservice appears in several Funny or Die videos, including as part of the faux crime-fighting duo the Ed Hardy Boys. In this video, Kroll takes part in the Comedy Fights Malaria effort of Malaria No More by bringing Bobby Bottleservice to West Africa. The result is just wrong enough to be funny.

Of Nick Kroll’s other characters I personally get the biggest kick out of El Chupacabra, although by definition that one is best suited for radio. Fabrice Fabrice almost made the list this year, but I already had one Funny or Die interview video. Maybe next year, Fabrice.


Top Ten Videos of 2010: 6. The Daily Show, “Male Inequality”

January 2, 2011 | Comment

2010 was a big year for Jon Stewart, and thereby for The Daily Show. I didn’t think Stewart could top the October 30 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear he and Stephen Colbert led, which drew a crowd of over 200,000 to the National Mall in Washington.

billboard

Billboard welcoming RNC attendees to
Minneapolis in 2008
(Photo: Flickr/The Zeppelin)

As it turned out, Stewart outdid himself in December with an impassioned shredding of Senate Republicans’ unconscionable filibuster of the Zadroga Act to provide medical and financial aid to afflicted Ground Zero emergency workers.1

In 2010 The Daily Show also continued to do one of the things it has done brilliantly for several years: point out and mock people who claim to be oppressed, but clearly aren’t. Examples of such people might include certain investment bankers, Christian mega-churches, professional athletes, or many others that generally have it pretty good. In the case of my number six video of 2010, this treatment is given to a richly deserving group: middle-aged white men.2

Samantha Bee, the Daily Show correspodent in this segment, has long been one of my favorites. She had a few things of her own going on in 2010, most notably the publication of her memoir I Know I Am, But What Are You? Her promotion of the book included a wide-ranging interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air and a cute feature piece in the New York Times Magazine. Daily Show video clips featuring her are here; among those that especially crack my shit up are “Shame Parade,” “John McCain’s Air Quotes” (start at about 2:03 into the clip), and “Long Island Wants to Secede.”


Top Ten Videos of 2010: 7. Funny or Die, “The Committee Ep 1: Bad Dog” [NSFW]

December 31, 2010 | Comment

The big countdown continues! Like its immediate predecessor, my number seven video of 2010 comes from the wacky web-video wellspring Funny or Die. Like both number eight and number nine on this list, it directly involves a friend of mine — but, be it known that it is the last video in the 2010 list that does so. The point of the list is to share videos that I really enjoyed, not to plug for my friends or try to seem cool by association.1

Another important detail about this video: if my #7 video is NSFW (and it is), this one is very NSFW. I’m just sayin’.

So here it is, featuring Rich Sommer (Mad Men), Alison Brie (Mad Men, Community), and my friend Kathryn Joosten (The West Wing, Wedding Crashers, Desperate Housewives, etc).

I’ll tell you one thing: I’ve heard Kathy say far dirtier stuff.


Top Ten Videos of 2010: 8. Funny or Die, “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Bruce Willis” [NSFW]

December 30, 2010 | 1 comment

CDR_logo

CDR logo by Kulap Vilaysack

I came late to the Zach Galifianakis party, as I do to most every party, conceptual or actual. One exception, however, would be my early arrival at the Scott Aukerman party. Scott and I trod the musical theatre boards together at PCPA TheaterFest longer ago than I care to quantify in calendar units. Scott went on to write for the sketch-comedy landmark Mr. Show and co-create the live show Comedy Death-Ray at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles.1 CDR has launched a weekly podcast, Comedy Death-Ray Radio, which has afforded me many a guffaw.

In the web-based audiovisual realm, Scott and his writing partner BJ Porter have brought the CDR brand to the comedy video site Funny or Die. Among their video contributions to FoD is the wildly popular “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis” series, in which Galifianakis interviews celebrities in a manner that is hard to describe exactly. I guess you could say he is simultaneously sheepish and insulting. Best just to watch.

The whole catalog of “Between Two Ferns” videos is here. Others that cracked me up extra hard include the one with Natalie Portman and the one with Jon Hamm.


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