Culmination of Comic Genius

George Carlin. The name alone evokes a plethora of ideas, one of which is the moniker that I believe he deserves, "The King of Comedy". Why do I bring up one of comedy's most singularly defining characters? Carlin along with other comics including Brian Regan, Jeff Garlin, Bob Saget, Jim Norton, and Carlos Mencia will be featured on XM Radio's newest comedy series Unmasked. The series will be hosted by Ron Bennington, the co-host of the XM show Ron and Fez, featured along with the Opie and Anthony Show on XM Radios channel 202 "The Virus". Bennington, a comic in his own rite, is by far the most intelligent and compelling comic interviewer on radio today. The series will feature Bennington doing interviews with the comics, attempting to "unmask" their personalities. Bennington's skills as a entertainment interrogator, has been doing interviews alongside his co-host Fez Whatley, on their show since the late 80's, covering such names as Kareem-Abdul-Jabar, and John Mayer (only to list a few from weeks past). To get a better perspective into Bennington's mind, I suggest you check out the thread on Wackbag.com's Ron Bennington's Line of the Day. The site features all featured on XM 202. Here's a couple of my favourites:

"Ron on MLB Pitchers: They cant even jerk off...there worried they might pull there ACL"

"I'm a sink pissin' motherfucker. And if we're outside, that's a bathroom. I'm not waiting on line like were a bunch of women with vaginas."

Ron, talking to/about Dave (a producer) and bad decisions...

"You know what is the worst choice yet? When your mother let that pregnancy go full-term"


The series will air on XM COMEDY 150 Saturday at 8 PM and the Ron and Fez Show airs on XM THE VIRUS 202 at 12 PM on Weekdays with replays on the weekends.

Ron Bennington

The King Carlin

RON BENNINGTON'S LINE OF THE DAY



Ill be watching...

David Cross and America- A love hate relationship

For years now, David Cross, the mind behind such shows as The Bob and David Show on HBO and the short lived but long loved series Freak Show , has toured the nation spreading hilarity like a modern day Johnny Appleseed(if Johnny Appleseed spread jokes about republicans and hard core pornography). But, let us not relegate David Cross to the ever present "Dick and Fart Joke"(of which I usually enjoy) style of comedy. Although many vulgar(and don't think I mean that in a bad way) topics weave their way in and out of Cross' routine, they are done so in a way that is both intelligent and surprisingly hilarious. Cross, a self-professed liberal spends a great deal of his act dealing with social issues and other serious problems that plague our country. But, again let's not get ahead of ourselves, Cross is not one for any kind of censorship that is seen so frequently in the media today in this "post-Imus world". For example, Cross has a routine in which he describes the phenomena that is the "gay accent" that is often accompanied by a lisp and an effeminate tone in the homosexual community. He describes this as an accent that is found only with gay men, then goes on to describe situations in which people claim that "homosexuality is a choice". Using the argument that many gay men are born with this "gay accent" along with the fact that no person in their right mind at the age of fourteen would "chose a life in which intolerant rednecks would constantly berate and abuse" them. This may sound like a wanting for America to disallow of "intolerant rednecks", however if one were to analyze this at all they would realize that Cross is really saying "sure think like and even be intolerant rednecks, but beat the shit out of each other instead of someone else", a simple enough message. Although this is only one example of only one medium in which Cross' comedy is presented, it is fairly representative of the intelligent yet satirical stylings of a great American comic. Please, I implore you... take a look, even if you do believe homosexuality is a choice, because David Cross would be the first to tell you "your an idiot" but at least we live in a country where that's not a crime.

BOB AND DAVID SITE
P.S. As subscribership and viewership increases (much thanks to Sho.com, And CALIFORNICATION still rocks my balls!) I ask that you feel free to comment and send in any suggestions via email.

I'll be watching...

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland... Perfection??? Part 2

Let's see, where were we? Okay, first off we've been through two of the three films produced by the team first off, The Beach, a Psychological/Philosophical Drama, and secondly, 28 Days Later, A pure and simple(well, not simple) Horror film. That's a pretty big leap to take in film genres, which brings me to my next point. Sunshine is a Science Fiction and Psychological thriller dealing with advanced scientific theory along with a study of the human mind. Seems like an impossible feat to cover in two hours you say? Well, in my opinion Sunshine not only covered these topics, but wove them into a compelling story with the most impressive visual cinematography to date. The film features a not to distant future in which the sun has died and started to break down, leaving the earth with little to no light. The story picks up after a failed attempt by mankind to re-start the sun with some kind of explosive device designed to "create a star within a star". The first mission, Icarus 1, was ill-fated and it is at this point in the film unknown the condition of the astronauts, all is known is that the mission failed. Enter, Icarus 2, piloted by a crew consisting of Cillian Murphy of Redeye and Batman Begins fame, along with Chris Evans from Fantastic 4. The film delves deep into the ideas of self-sacrifice and the reaction of man to his own fate as most every astronaut on the Icarus 2 stands in the face of his death. Visually magnificent with writing to match, Sunshine, takes the ideas of The Beach and the box office visuals of 28 Days Later and combines them to create one of the best Science Fiction films in years and in my opinion the only descent film (excluding comedies) in 2007. Now, on to future projects. To the elation of millions upon millions of gamers worldwide, Alex Garland is set to be writing the script to the long awaited HALO movie based on the best selling video game series. Danny Boyle is in Pre-Production with the film Slumdog Millionaire, a comedy set to release in 2009. Although I'm sure upcoming projects will be delights to watch(and read), I still lay in wait for the next film in which the two will collaborate. I urge you, if you have missed even one of these films(or books) to pick them up immediately and give them a chance. Just because they're not box office hits doesn't mean they're not worth watching.

Garland (left) and Boyle (Right)

Murphy in Sunshine

I'll be watching...

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland... Perfection??? Part 1

When I began to write this post, I thought I would focus on one of my favorite films by the director/writer team of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, The Beach. This was before I caught one of they're newest films, Sunshine. Needless to say, I was impressed; so I decided to instead feature the entire repertoire of the, in my opinion, perfect, combination of film making talent. So, let us begin with the film that started it all, The Beach. The year was 2000 and we were all reeling from the panic that ensued in preparation for Y2K which, as you remember, didn't happen. But that's besides the point. Let's see where were we... 2000, and Leonardo DiCaprio had come off of such performances as Titanic, The Man in The Iron Mask, and my favorite The Basketball Diaries. I remember the first time I saw the movie, it changed my life. Well, that's a little over dramatic, let me rephrase... It changed my movie life. The film, set in the near paradise of Koh Phangan, Thailand, featured the story of a young man, in search of paradise. Some would say, and by "some" I mean "I", that "paradise" is just a word in place of "enlightenment". This was one of the first appearances of Garlands dabbling with the Metaphysical spectrum. In his search for "paradise" Richard(DiCaprio) finds two very important things, a woman and a perfect pradisial retreat from society, the so-called "Beach". However in this quest for paradise, Richard discovers one fundamental truth of happiness and of "paradise"... it doesn't last forever. These ideas of enlightenment and non-permanence, not to mention the placing of the story in Southeast Asia, make it one giant symbol for Buddhist ideas and of course "Man's search for happiness/love/a meaning in life/... well you get the point". Now, the novel(written by Garland) conveyed these themes beautifully with every tool available to the modern day author, and many would swear that these ideas could not fully translate to film. Enter Danny Boyle. The movie, although not a critical or a box office success, gained a minor cult following and a die hard fan base for the duo. Boyle had previous cult success with my third favorite Boyle film, Trainspotting. The next film by the team completely shifted genres and temporarily swayed the themes away from the metaphysical. You probably all saw this next film, I know I did(and it's my least favorite by the two), 28 Days Later. Now, I don't have as much to say about this one for two reasons, there was no book to draw ideas from and second, I'm not a big horror fan, but of all horror films this was my favorite. A box office success, 28 days firmly grabbed the public's attention. I will finish this part of the post for now, but I assure you, the second post will be up ASAP. And next post: Sunshine and future projects.

DiCaprio in The Beach

I'll be watching...

David Duchovny's Triumphant Return!!!!

That's right, David Duchovny has a new Television series that just began to run on Showtime. However much to the chagrin of many thousands of X-files fans, it is not to reboot the series(however he will be staring in the upcoming X-files movie sequel!). The new show "Californication" is a refreshing shot in the arm from the same people who brought us "Dexter" and "Weeds". Californication features the story of an overly cynical writer "Hank Moody" attempting to seep through the "pile of meaningless pussy" that he encounters in an attempt to find a meaning in his new LA lifestyle. Through his contentions with his ex-girlfriend,her new fiance, his daughter, his underage one night stand and of course over 5 new women so far, Hank is swirling in a cyclone of a life seemingly going down the drain, and on top of that he is suffering from writers block. Although the series is only set to run for 12 episodes, it will be sure to impress. You can catch the show on Showtime Monday nights. And if you don't have Showtime... well you're fucked, sorry.



CALIFORNICATION

I'll be watching...