Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff

I had wanted to also publish a full-length review of Amy Schumer's latest special, "Mostly Sex Stuff," this week, but demands of work, school and also fighting off the same cold everyone seems to have and can't get rid of have kept me from getting to it.

Have taken a look at most of the hour though, and can say that this time around, her performance is more interactive with the audience, and more exclusively drawing on sexual topics but presented with the dark twists also heard in Anthony Jeselnik's material or the style also used by others she's touring with this season on a package tour (Jim Norton, Dave Attell and Artie Lange).

Schumer's debut, "Cutting," introduced her with strong material. This one is a little less consistent and less uproarious. The material isn't as resonant and doesn't connect as well as Kyle Kinane, subject of the rave review given this week on the site.

Where To See Kroll's Best

I’m very late to it, but rapidly catching up on the FX series “The League,” which features a few UCB-spawned performers, including Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas and Nick Kroll, in its well calibrated ensemble cast. And for Kroll, who's debuting his showcase "Kroll Show" this coming week on Comedy Central, it's still probably his best work.

The show began on the marketing hook of being about the travails of players in a fantasy football league, complete with guest appearances by Terry Bradshaw, Chad Ochocinco and other football players and broadcasters. But after its first season, it morphed into being more about the characters’ misadventures, and started to show its pedigree as being created by former “Seinfeld” writer/producer Jeff Schaffer with his wife Jackie Marcus Schaffer. The stories in this half-hour comedy now often reach successfully for catchphrases, just like “Seinfeld” did, and end with utter catastrophic failures of one of the characters’ schemes and plans. 

As it’s evolved, “The League” has definitely reached the upper echelon of TV comedy, with its network-mates, “Louie” and “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” as well as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Bored To Death” and “Parks & Recreation,” other shows with the same sensibility and pedigree.

Serious About Satellite

Another benefit of time off, as far as what I've gotten to take in and enjoy in comedy programming has been SiriusXM's OnDemand service, started a few months ago. There's a wealth of great material on there to be had -- some of it only running for a fixed time, and some of it apparently evergreen. Among the highlights so far: an hour of Opie & Anthony (filed under "The Worst of O&A", in the Entertainment section) with Louis C.K., Ricky Gervais, Jay Mohr and co-host Jim Norton together shooting bull about comedy on the heels of Louis and Gervais appearing in HBO's "Talking Funny" special last year. Their personalities were so dominant that you didn't even hear much of Opie & Anthony themselves getting any word in -- and actually, Mohr was only heard occasionally in the hour as well.

Norton turns up again in another fun O&A tidbit -- an appearance by Donald Sutherland on the show, where Norton, to his credit very knowledgeable of Sutherland's film history, geeks out in the actor's presence. Louis C.K. and Gervais are almost omnipresent in SiriusXM OnDemand programs, including the "Getting Late" show, which consists of interviews that run about 15 minutes. While not comprehensive, these pieces are still entertaining and interesting. Paul F. Tompkins and Bill Burr also appear in episodes worth catching.

The point of all this geeking out over SiriusXM content is to emphasize that for comedy fans, satellite radio with this new added feature that lets listeners find exactly what they may be interested in, is well worth the subscription. Currently, the OnDemand service is only on the mobile smartphone app, but it should hopefully be added to the web streaming version soon.

Back To Black

I remember blogging awhile back that it had started to seem that every performance Jack Black was giving, in both movies and talk show appearances, was the same kind of mugging or shtick. But as I've headed into an extended holiday break, I've caught two overlooked movies Black was in last year where he gave great and very understated performances, "The Big Year" and "Bernie."

In "The Big Year," Black plays a down on his luck birdwatcher, divorced, living back with his parents, and dreaming of achieving what's called a "big year," recording the most bird species sightings within the bounds of a calendar year, Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. It may be hacky to say it, but Black's characterization in this movie has heart, and gives the viewer someone to care about moreso than Owen Wilson's veteran but sneaky birdwatcher and Steve Martin's more privileged dabbler. Not to malign those performers -- their characters in combination with Black give the movie its dynamic, but it's Black's character you end up caring most about.

"Bernie," unlike "The Big Year," is less earnest and more arch -- a black comedy, but oddly enough based on a true story. Black is very tightly restrained in playing the title character in this film, a sweet, kind funeral director who snaps under the weight of Shirley MacLaine's domineering widow, Marjorie, who hires him as an all-around companion, gofer and assistant after meeting him at her husband's funeral. It's remarkable how Black inhabits Bernie Tiede -- speaking in an effeminate voice, wearing a conservative haircut and clothes reflecting his sense of propriety and, as the story progresses, conveying his exasperation with Marjorie with just a look in his eyes or slight change in facial expression. For a movie like this, Black, working with Richard Linklater, his director in "School of Rock," finds just the right performance to match the tone of the movie, and thus leads it to becoming a classic that will find an audience over time, rather than a misfire.

So should you have time on your hands over the holidays, "The Big Year" and "Bernie" are two movies well worth catching. Black's performances in them invests the comedy in them, whether light or dark, with a real human element.

Regrets

Lately, I haven't been able to devote as much time and energy to Jester (jesterjournal.com) as I might like, but from time to time, I'll still be adding new reviews and content. This became more obvious to me this past month or so, as I had two books I planned to review, but the time for honestly reading them became scarce due to a lot of other additional commitments. I'm only just today getting a review posted of the R. Crumb comics compilation, published last month. I've had the review copy since this past summer and feel a little bad it took me this long to get to it. But that review is now up, and another book just published this month, which I also got a review copy of this summer, will be reviewed soon. Thanks for your patience.

Louis CK on SNL

In short -- I was a little disappointed with how SNL used Louis CK as host last night. The monologue was great because they let Louis simply do some of his stand-up, as they should. There were two great bits -- the filmed parody of his own show "Louie" with him playing Lincoln in similar loser-ish situations and with the exact same tone, and then a sketch buried late in the show with Louis and Kate MacKinnon as the last two drunks hooking up at a bar at last call.

Other than that, I really don't know what the writers were thinking, having Louis CK do odd funny voices as he did as the FEMA spokesman on the "Fox & Friends" parody and the hotel clerk reciting a litany of unlikely charges to a guy trying to check out. Impersonations or characters aren't Louis CK's thing. The writers didn't seem to be thinking about playing to his strengths as a comic actor. And the sketch where Louis played a deluded Norseman annoying everyone by repeatedly blowing a giant ram's horn didn't really go anywhere at all, characters or no characters.

People say you can tell how the SNL crew liked the host or vice versa by the closing bows -- are they standing close to them or hugging them, or as far away as possible? Louis CK was flanked by the musical guest, .fun, in the end of the show -- but that seems to be more of a failing of the cast and crew to really do him proud rather than Louis being an asshole to anyone, I would guess. About five hours before airtime, Louis sent out a great email to fans being thankful for the opportunity and especially in the moment of New York trying to recover from Hurricane Sandy. It's too bad that SNL didn't really support him in helping relieve the drama of the news when showtime came.

Journey to the old country

A viral video, particularly for our English friends: