douchebags

You are currently browsing articles tagged douchebags.

Sowing Some Garfunkel & Oates

February 17, 2011 | Comment

At last, the official music video for my favorite Garfunkel & Oates song has arrived. Don’t watch it at work, unless you have headphones (or unless your work is cool with a steady dose of the word “motherfucker”… there’s no denying it’s a word with great rhythm). So ladies and gents, get your audio settings set for the song that perfectly illustrates why I don’t like dance clubs: “This Party Took a Turn for the Douche.”

They’re an army in the night, like Norman Mailer. Once again, that’s Riki “Garfunkel” Lindhome and Kate “Oates” Micucci, along with special appearances by Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro and probably some others that I missed. G&O’s new album All Over Your Face is for sale on Amazon, iTunes, and probably lots of other places. Their website, as listed in my blogroll, is garfunkelandoates.com.


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.

Read the rest of this entry »


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.


Facebook Meme: 25 Things About Me

January 28, 2009 | 11 comments

This little Facebook meme has found its way to me. OK, what am I supposed to do?

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

I’ll do it, and I’ll send it to the friends who tagged me in theirs, but no way am I going to require 25 of my Facebook friends to write lists too. My friends have more important things to do… well, most of them, anyway.

25 Random Things About Me

  1. I am a compulsive copy editor and a remorseless grammar nazi (in case you hadn’t noticed).
  2. I am geeky enough to use HTML markup when posting things on community web sites. In case you still hadn’t noticed.
  3. I’m seriously considering getting a bicycle to use for getting around town, in order to both save money on gas and get more exercise. The only drawback I foresee is the increased chance of severe injury due to LA’s shortage of bike lanes and surplus of reckless drivers.

    4. Read the rest of this entry »


The Blagojevich Pile-on: Missing the Pile

December 10, 2008 | 2 comments

You gotta hand it to Rod Blagojevich. Here we all were thinking Sarah Palin was surely the dumbest state governor in the U.S., when all of a sudden… well, you know.

The Illinois governor’s arrest has been a slow softball down the middle for the news media. No, scratch that – it’s been more like TWO softballs down the middle. The first was the revelation of his corruption itself; the second and more shocking was how much he sucked at being corrupt. The guy just has no gift for graft.

Yet even with this fat pitch lobbed at them, a few conservative commentators have merely fouled it off. Read the rest of this entry »


« Older entries