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Entries in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary (249)
Wednesday Feb 16 2011 INSIDE WITH: Laura Grey and Jordan Klepper
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 12:48PM
Laura Grey & Jordan Klepper | Photo: Matt Weir
By: Sarah Rainone
How could I not have high expectations for Klepper and Grey’s new sketch show "Baggage," which is playing at the UCB Theater in New York? The duo hails from Second City! and The Chicago Tribune has described them as "exceedingly smart" performers with "chaotic genius." The show promised humor about cults, dolphin blood, and how annoying love can be, and it kept its promise. So I decided to talk to Jordan and Laura about their comedic inspirations, Crazy Town and the hilarity of the word "pants."
So two words running through my head while watching Baggage were "classy" and "classic.” Even during the silliest moments you perform with intelligence and style. I was like, "Damn, now I know how audiences must have felt watching Nichols and May."
Laura: First of all, that's very high praise -- too high. Really, I have to thank Jordan for wearing a suit. It always classes things up to see a guy in a suit, telling jokes...and sweating profusely. Now Jordan can make fun of the pantyhose I wear which are really cable knit tights.
Jordan: I would never poke fun at anything cable knit, partially because I lack the knowledge to defend my position.
Click to read more ...
keithhuang | 1 Comment | 26 References tagged Jordan Klepper , Laura Grey in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Wednesday Feb 09 2011 INSIDE WITH: LONNY ROSS OF 'ANGRY OLD MAN & GAY TEENAGE RUNAWAY'
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 11:13AM Lonny Ross & Fred Melamed are 'Angry Old Man & Gay Teenage Runaway' | Photo courtesy of Atom Films
By: Keith Huang
Here's the pitch: Lonny Ross ("30 Rock") and Fred Melamed ("A Serious Man") sit on a bench and talk. That's it. And it works beautifully. In a new Atom.com series launching today, the unlikely duo filter their tête-à-têtes through crazy lenses: gay teenage runaway and angry old man. But how did they meet? And why are they hanging out? We don't know. Each episode is a tight two minutes, so we may never find out. Instead, director Brennan Shroff lets us bask in Melamed's Old Man hat, Ross's eyeliner and talk of pigeons and Cobb salads. Life, as it has been said, is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. I see a lot of life here. And here's what good ol' Apiary pal Lonny Ross had to say about it:
So, Lonny, it's been a long time since you were on The Apiary. You haven't called, you haven't written. Do you even remember us?
You sound like the comedy website version of my parents. Of course I remember you, I keep your home page up on my computer all the time. It goes behind the porn, so if someone walks into the room or knocks on the door, I quickly click off the porn window and there you are and I’m in the clear.
Well, I searched for "Lonny Ross" on Twitter, but nothing came back. Are you not into the social-media whatnot? Because clearly that's not you updating your Facebook page. Or is it?
If I publicly said what I was up to all time I’d constantly be getting arrested. Though why it’s illegal to have animals mate publicly within 1500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship, I’ll never know.
Angry Old Man and Gay Teenage Runaway Channel
Tags: Atom.com | Funny Videos | Tournament | Upload
Are you gay, or do you just play gay men? Because, you know, according to a '30 Rock' Wikipedia entry, "Josh Girard auditions to get back into the TGS cast, confessing that he has been reduced to online gay pornography." That's pretty meta.
Ha. Maybe this character (Gay Teenage Runaway) is what Josh has become. Cut to a new Wikipedia entry one minute after you post this interview, "Lonny Ross has hinted at the fact that Josh Girard may now be the Gay Teenage Runaway in his Atom.com Web series."
Yes! Use a few more adjectives to describe this "Gay Teenage Runaway," please.
Immature. Uninformed. Entitled.
And for "Angry Old Man"?
Cranky. Downcast. Put Upon.
The "Angry Old Man," of course, is played by the great Fred Melamed. When the cameras aren't rolling, is Fred angry or old? My gut tells me no, that he's super cool. Like Stephen Tobolowsky.
Fred’s actually more Gay Teenage Runaway than Angry Old Man.
No, Fred is a great guy, great storyteller, and a very warm person. He’s also a great actor and voice-over artist to boot! I don’t think I’ve ever used the phrase “to boot” before. Similar to doing a scene with Alec Baldwin, the guy inherently makes you better, and makes you work harder because he’s so naturally good.
Fred Melamed | Photo: Atom Films So can we expect an "Odd Couple" vibe going into this series?
Sure. The series is based on an actual conversation I overheard in Bryant Park of an old man yelling about Mexicans, and a very effeminate male voice trying to calm him down and give his point of view about the Mexican people. And I just listened to these guys go back and forth about it. So my friend Brennan Shroff and I wanted to do this thing where we pinpoint one of the many dysfunctional conversations and friendships happening all over New York City at any given moment.
That's a pretty deep mine of material. Will there be more episodes after this batch? Or will it depend on an 'x' number of hits?
We got eight of these short webisodes this time around. Not exactly sure what it takes to get picked up for more, as far as hits go, or if they just like the series and that’s enough. We’d love to take these characters off the benches of NYC and bring them to Miami Beach.
And what's your elevator pitch on "Chosen Guns." It sounds pretty interesting.
Not really at liberty to discuss.
Boo. Lastly, I remember seeing this video of Fred Stoller meeting you, which was pretty epic. What were the details, and when are y'all going to shoot something together again?
Fred is a guy I’ve had on my radar to meet for awhile. I’m a fan of his stand up, and I’ve been told that I remind people of him. Even Alec Baldwin said that to me. So I finally met him in Los Angeles and we meet up occasionally at the Grove in Los Angeles and he tells people I’m his younger brother. They totally buy it.
Fred just had a film he wrote and starred in at Slamdance called "Fred and Vinnie," and we’re working on a fun idea together for a film. But you may just see us do something on the Web together before that happens.
And just to spite you, Keith, I will most likely play another gay or questionably gay character. So there.
* THE PLUG: Watch "Angry Old Man & Angry Teen Runaway" on Atom.com.
keithhuang | Post a Comment | 2 References tagged Atom.com , Fred Melamed , Lonny Ross in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Tuesday Dec 14 2010 INSIDE WITH: SARA SCHAEFER, HEAD BLOGGER/RESEARCHER FOR LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 10:00AM
Sara Schaefer | Photo: Scott Moran By: Meghan O'Keefe
One of the many things that makes Late Night with Jimmy Fallon so fun to watch is how the show uses Internet culture to connect with its audience. As head blogger/researcher, Sara Schaefer is one of the people tasked with finding new ways to accomplish this.
In addition to her day job, Sara’s also a successful stand-up comic who was profiled last year as one of New York Magazine’s 10 Comics To Watch. I recently got the chance to talk to Sara about her experience at Late Night and her work as a stand-up comic.
How did you get your job as Head Blogger/Researcher at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon?
My first gig as a comedian was hosting a show for AOL, called The DL. From there, I was hired at BestWeekEver.tv, and then from there I got this job. I've always wanted to work on Late Night in some capacity. Back in the summer of 2008, I read an article about how Fallon was going to start on-line with digital shorts, and the show was going to place an emphasis on interactivity. I immediately thought: how do I help them with that? I knew I would be perfect for it. But I had no idea who to talk to. I asked around, and nobody seemed to have an answer, and after about a week, I kind of gave up on the idea. But then, a few months later, within the course of a single week, 3 different people told me that had recommended me for a job running the blog at Fallon. Soon enough, I got a call for an interview. In other words, 'The Secret' works.
A lot of people imagine late night talk show writers huddled around a desk working on monologue jokes all day. How similar or different is your job to that?
Well, I'm not a monologue writer for the show, so I don't huddle around a desk writing monologue jokes all day. From what I can tell, there's not much huddling. More like sitting at computers in shared offices joking and talking through ideas. Not all the writers sit in one room, but they gather daily for meetings.
As far as the blog goes, we are a tight little group. We often huddle around a desk watching a viral video. That's the equivalent I suppose. We sit in an office with no windows, and including a couple other staff members, there's 7 people sharing one tiny space. We call it The Cave, and we have a lot of fun in here. I'm very involved in the day-to-day of the show production as well, attending the writers meetings and doing backstage invterviews with our guests almost every day. It's a crazy, fun, big-ass job that exhausts me, but it's worth every second.
Click to read more ...
keithhuang | Post a Comment | 18 References tagged Late Night With Jimmy Fallon , Sara Schaefer in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Wednesday Oct 20 2010 Has The Lonely Island Drifted Away From SNL?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 2:00PM
An SNL supersleuth wrote in today with some discerning ideas and intel about Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer's continued tenure at the program:
> People are speculating about The Lonely Island's presence at SNL. Jorma seems to be gone (whether permanently or not, I don't think it's been confirmed), and people have been wondering if Akiva was going to leave too since he was just announced as producer of Wilmer Valderrama's new variety show. I would look out for Akiva's name to *not* be in the credits this weekend since I saw him leaving 30 Rock yesterday at 4:30pm with a box. It didn't look like a "I'm carrying cool props to a film shoot" kind of box as much as a "I just cleaned out my desk and here are all my personal things" box. Again--purely speculative. No proof. But given the timing of it (why would he leave 30 Rock with a box right when the week's sketch writing is supposed to begin?) and the online speculation regarding his producer role on the Valderrama show, I'm inclined to believe he's left SNL for the time being. I guess we'll only know for sure after they roll the credits this weekend, so be on the look out for it.
The Apiary | Post a Comment tagged SNL , The Lonely Island in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Wednesday Oct 06 2010 TMZ VS. CHARLYNE YI - REDUX
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 11:04AM Charlyne Yi | Photo courtesy of Vanina Anabel
PWNED, INDEED! As predicted, Charlyne Yi's video rebuttal to TMZ's Hackety-Hatchet Job is fast approaching the 100,000-page view mark. I emailed Charlyne to ask her thoughts:
> It's wonderful that everybody is coming together, reposting, helping, and donating. That was was the hope of me making and uploading that rebuttal video. To inspire people, and explore the idea that we all have the power to help, but it's what we do with our power that defines us.
As far as her rebuttal video getting more views than the well-produced Oxfam video she helped create last month, she wrote:
> I think it's interesting what videos grab attention. I haven't the slightest clue of how to make somebody care. But I'm happy that people are, and donating.
Funny how these things work themselves out. And with so much social stuff going on these days / this week, get involved! Or at the very least, get aware! Ignorance isn't always bliss.
--Keith Huang
RELATED
* Oxfam web site
* Compromising my beliefs: TMZ is the devil
keithhuang | 1 Comment tagged Charlyne Yi , Oxfam , TMZ in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Tuesday Oct 05 2010 Inside With: Leslie Meisel and Megan Neuringer
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 3:23PM
By: Evan Watkins
Leslie Meisel and Megan Neuringer are no strangers to the New York comedy scene, Leslie performs with UCB Maude Team Thunder Gulch, and Megan performs with the Harold team DeCoster. They have combined forces for the first time for their character spectacular, Love Can Suck a Dick... and So Can I, which is currently playing at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre NY. I had the chance to sit down with both of them before they take their show to LA at the end of the month.
So how long have you been developing Love Can Suck a Dick... and So Can I?
Leslie: We started working on the show together in January.
What was the development process like? I know that both of you have improv backgrounds, so did you discover the characters through improv, or did Megan just bring in a bunch of written pieces?
Megan: There would be characters that Leslie had that she’d been working on, and I would have her improvise with them. So let’s say Leslie improvised something hilarious in the scope of the character, I would direct her in a way that would push her to follow a certain game, or tell her to do it faster, or make it shorter. We ended up transcribing a lot of it, finding out where the funny was, and then got the character on its feet. Then the process would start all over again. It was a lot of writing on your feet, rewriting, adding jokes, getting rid of things, and chipping away at it.
Leslie--how many characters did you bring to Megan for this show?
Leslie: I don’t remember how many I brought in, I think at one point I just performed a showcase for her.
Megan: During the rehearsal process, we found sort of a happy medium of which characters worked and which characters didn’t. And then we found a compromise of what was funny to both of us.
Did you test characters out in front of an audience?
Leslie: We did two characters at UCB’s School Night. I did "Wendy" because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. Right before I went onstage with it, I was nervous and scared and I thought, people could yell at me--someone could beat me up. I think what I learned from performing as Wendy is that, if you’re really nervous and fearful about a character, then just go for it. We also had a character that was a heightened, very confident version of me and Megan wrote a great piece around her. The character was this "I know everything about theater" kind of woman. The first time I performed it, I didn’t think it went that well.
Megan: I told her it went fine.
Leslie: Then we added her to the show, and we both realized she didn’t work in the context of the show, so we ended up cutting her. There is a version of her you'll see in the video piece of the show, it’s basically all of Lennon Parham’s lines.
Megan: It’s kind of amazing how the lines all work for Lennon in the video, but it just couldn’t sustain itself for an entire character monologue.
The show has a lot of audience interaction, have you noticed the different way that audiences respond to what’s happening onstage?
Leslie: There's definitely a difference. If you have a show that's full of out of towners or theater people, I think they’re just watching and getting into it, then there’s a moment where they start to get into it, and pretty soon they’re laughing. Then I think, "Oh they were just listening and watching until they were ready to come on the ride with you." If you have a younger audience, they're more willing to go with whatever's happening on stage at any given moment.
Megan: I think it helps to not be totally reactive to the audience during each show, but I can't help thinking about what the audience is thinking during each show.
How has this show been different from other shows you’ve worked on in the past?
Megan: I spent a lot of years believing that performing in shows was an experience that I did for myself and for my ego. I thought that going onstage and getting laughs was an experience "for me" and that has kind of shifted in the past couple of years. So, Leslie and I then had this epiphany and it all has to do with the artist known as Pink.
Leslie: So I got tickets to go see Pink, and Megan and I were talking after an audition, and I said "So I have these tickets to Pink, do you want to go?" and then Megan was like...
Megan: "I love PINK!" which was kind of a lie, I just wanted to go see a concert at Madison Square Garden with Leslie, I didn’t even own any of her albums.
Leslie: Well, it’s a good thing Megan lied. So we make our way over to Madison Square Garden and the moment we get in, Pink takes the stage--it was this perfect moment. There's this woman who's giving everything she has in this selfless, genuine, and strong performance.
Megan: It was like she was saying "I'm so psyched to be at Madison Square Garden, I'm so psyched I sold it out, this is a dream of mine, and thank you, thank you for being here with me." It made our vision of what we want to create, to like,"give the audience Pink," and thank them for coming to see you. I want to always give the audience Pink.
Leslie: Giving the audience Pink is about not settling. I think a lot of people think that once they have something good, they’re like, "Well, that's done." But we're still creating this show... and we know the potential of what's possible.
You can catch Love Can Suck a Dick... And So Can I at The UCB Theatre NY on Wednesday, October 6th at 8PM or if you live in the Los Angeles area, simply stay put and watch it there during its 2-show run at the UCB LA October 27th and November 4th.
The Apiary | 1 Comment tagged Leslie Meisel , Megan Neuringer , UCBT in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary , Interviews Monday Oct 04 2010 On the Red Carpet at The Night of Too Many Stars @ The Beacon Theater - 10.2.10
Monday, October 4, 2010 at 12:17PM Steve Carell, seconds before he was eaten by the paparazzi. We'll miss you, Steve! The annual Night of Too Many Stars fundraiser for autism education took place on Saturday and the stars once again strutted their way down the blue-ish red carpet before performing some skits for everybody. A televised version of the event will air October 21st at 9PM on Comedy Central. Let's see who all came...
Sarah Silverman!
Ricky Gervais and LTR, Jane Fallon
John Oliver looks rather tiny here but he's actually a relatively normal sized person.
For the purpose of optimizing our search engine results and getting mad hits, this is a nude Olivia Munn photo.
Tracy Morgan and unidentified friend
Lewis Black was stark raving black. As expected!
Tommy Hilfiger took a break from fist-fighting Axl Rose to save autistic children. So brave.
Jim Gaffigan arrived with his wife.
Jim's obviously been pumping a lot of iron lately--his ripped pecs are pictured here bursting out of his shirt.
YouTube sensation Tay Zonday proved once again that the Internet rumors are false and that he is in fact not dead.
Photos by Justin Alt
The Apiary | 1 Comment | 28 References tagged Comedy Central , Jim Gaffigan , John Oliver , Lewis Black , Night of Too Many Stars 2010 , Ricky Gervais , Sarah Silverman , Tay Zonday in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary , Photos , Red Carpet Monday Sep 27 2010 Running Wilde Red Carpet Arrival @ The NYTVF - 9.25.10
Monday, September 27, 2010 at 6:29PM L-R: Mel Rodriguez, Peter Serafinowicz, Will Arnett, Mitchell Hurwitz, Keri Russell, Stefania Owen, Robert Michael Morris and David Cross The cast and creative team of Running Wilde breezed into town on Saturday to close out the New York Television Festival with a little red carpet action, a screening and a talk-back session.
Peter is 8 feet tall in real life.
Stefania is quite short however. 3 feet? I don't know.
A view of the scene from across the street.
Watch the first episode here and subsequent episodes Tuesdays on FOX at 9:30.
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