This Is My Milwaukee

The Merrill Howard Kalin Show

Behold the amazing imitations and unique culinary techniques of a cable-access legend. Parts two and three after the jump. Am I the only one who hates that phrase? After the jump. Bullshit. Part two and three are 

below, I'm not posting each clip on it's own page, you won't find any top 11 lists here either.

I really only laugh when he does the "Mmmmm-wwmmmuummmm!!!" high pitches squeals of delight. Merrill truly lovedhis food.

Gary Busey is The Shit

The I'm late because it was foggy excuse by Gary Busey
Uploaded by garybuseyonbusiness

This reminds me of "I'm With Busey", a show that ran for one season on Comedy Central. If you haven't heard of it, check out some clips on YouTube or try to find the whole series. He is incredibly unpredictable and hilarious to watch.

Kyle the Skateboard Punk

Tony Hawk made a cameo appearance in the film as one of the skateboarders, he is credited at the end. Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero and two other professional skateboarders also appeared in the film in uncredited roles. --wikipedia

Fat Bitches Need Love Too, Craig....

For those who  don't know, the title of this post is a Chris Tucker reference from Friday. If he would have done the sequels instead of becoming Jackin Chan's sidekick he would still be funny.

Chris Lilley

My newest discovery is old news for any fans of Australian comedy. Summer Heights High premiered on HBO earlier this month. Chris Lilley writes and stars as the 3 main characters. They are played so well, it is easy to forget they are all the same guy. After a bit of research I discovered his earlier work, We Can Be Heroes. He played 6 different characters in that show, (shown above) one of which is brought back for his newer series. Both are readily available via bittorrent with lots of seeds. Download them and enjoy. He worked on a show called Big Bite before that, but I can't find it anywhere.

He really gets into the roles. I read that he spent a lot of time at a public school researching for Summer Heights High, to not only better understand his characters' world, but also to ensure the show was current. Sometimes the characters are so real, I don't laugh at them. There are moments of unease and discomfort that remind me of The Office (UK original) or Curb Your Enthusiasm, and believable personalities that reflect real people we all know.

In We Can Be Heroes, he plays two brothers who are constantly interacting. The two are often edited on screen so well together, I stopped picking it apart trying to figure out how they cut it so well. Lilley doesn't use extreme amounts of makeup to distinguish the characters, in fact he is very recognizable no matter who he plays. The magic is in the performance. I honestly think he could pull these roles off without any makeup or costume changes whatsoever.

He seems dedicated to creating his own visions with little outside influence. I really hope that the show is a success on HBO, but I also worry that his creation will be raped like so many other concepts borrowed or acquired by US television.

NBC is doing this with The Office right now. This original UK show was great show, and I really doubted they could pull off the American ripoff. I was reassured in knowing that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant would be involved. Yesterday I saw an interview with Gervais where he states that his involvement in the US version would be minimal. He compared the show to a cover song; you wouldn't expect original musicians to have direct input in another bands rendition of their song.

I think one of the reasons my favorite shows remain so memorable is because they knew when to quit. Good shows can end with a strong fan base even though they can potentially generate ad revenue for years to come by rehashing old ideas and writing pure drivel.

What The Bible Says....

I can't tell how real Donnie Davies is. I mean, it's obviously comedic, right? There seems to be some honest homophobia there. Regardless, it makes me laugh every time.

Fuck You from Alex Trebek

Funnier than Will Ferrell's impression.

Yii C'mon

Speak the Hungarian rapper. Just watch. It's a powerful message.

Jayus (jae-us)

From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Ancient Laughs: World's Oldest Jokebook

"Philogelos: The Laugh Addict" was compiled from manuscripts ranging from the 11th to 15th centuries, however the wording and context show origins as early as fourth century ancient Greece. It has recently been translated into an English book. The video above shows comic Jim Bowen talking about the inherent comedic traits that survive to this day.

Free Highlights from the book

Tim Meadows is The Shit

I just stumbled upon this series from an ex-SNL writer starring Tim Meadows and David Spade. It's not hilarious, but it has it's moments. The costumes, retro products and ads are very well done. David Spade's character is funny, in spite of David Spade. The wig and getup are priceless. See my favorite David Spade role here

Meadows delivery is amazingly funny to me. It's something about the timing.  "But look, he was an older dude. Old people do drugs." He made me laugh the most in The Dewey Cox Story too. Now that I think about it, maybe it's the drug references that make it work so well. I thought he was the longest running cast member on SNL, but Wikipedia says Darrell Hammond surpassed his record in 2005.

Seeing Tim Meadows in Carpet Bros reminds me that he is one of the most underrated comedians out there IMHO.

Keeping Up With KITH

This made my day. I found a short from earlier this year by The Kids in the Hall. It's nice to see the guys working together again after all these years. I knew they had live tours in recent years, but was surprised to come across this.

I was 9 when it began airing on the great CBC. Growing up in a fairly strict Christian household, I am glad my folks didn't pay much attention to the content. It was quite edgy for the time, and I seem to recall watching it in early primetime, sitting on the floor at my grandmothers playing with my Hot Wheels while the adults played cards. I knew this show was something special. Along with the newfie sketch comedy Codco, I was receiving a healthy dose of raw and controversial comedic influence at an early age, all thanks to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (Codco is another post altogether)

It aired in Canada CBC starting in 1988, and later was shown on CBS and HBO in the US. After the show ended, they did a movie called Brain Candy. I wasn't overly impressed, as it didn't seem to capture the vibe of the sketch series.

Mark McKinney went on to SNL for a few seasons. (Lorne Michaels produced KITH as well) His roles were lame and forgettable, but I don't blame him; I think he was just given crap characters. Lately he's been doing Canadian television. I hate CTV comedies, so I haven't given Robson Arms a chance. NOTE TO CTV: Your crappy sketch comedy shows are ruining it for Canadian comic representation as a whole.

Bruce McCulloch also wrote for SNL. I seem to recall seeing him in a sketch or two. More recently he has created a comedy called "Carpoolers" with Jerry O'Connell. I haven't seen it but an IMDB comment has someone claiming it was their next "Friends" If that is anywhere at all true, I will not like this show.

Dave Foley seem to gain the most notoriety in the US, starring in the sitcom NewsRadio. He's also done a ton of movie work, the last thing I saw him in was Uwe Boll's Postal. And I thought the videogame Postal 2 was tasteless.

Scott Thompson is the funniest gay comic ever. (Ant wishes he could be as creative at this guy.) In KITH, he played the best old lady characters, very believable. He's done a bunch of movie work as well, but nothing that stands out for me. I'm sure he's a household name in the gay community.

Kevin McDonald plays the most memorable characters for me. I think its the googly eyes and that look of shock. He did a lot of movies and tv after KITH. He played the pastor on That '70s Show, and worked on Seinfeld and Friends.

Recently I downloaded every season of The Kids in the Hall via bit torrent, about 16 GB of comic gold. You know how lots of shows you loved as a kid now seem to have lost their appeal as you get older? This didn't happen with the Kids. Sure, maybe I didn't get a some of the jokes when I was 10, but it is timeless for me nonetheless. It's still just as cool. If you haven't seen it, you should.