// Category Archive for: Comedy

Top Ten: Jim Carrey’s Most Humorous Characters

By Julie Finley

Jim Carrey: some people love him . . . some people hate him. I would fall into the “love” category, although I don’t love every single role he has played. But the ones I do adore, I REALLY love because no one could ever pull it off quite like him!

Sadly, there are people who actually claim that he’s “Not Funny!” or “Stupid!” I honestly do not know how anyone could NOT find at least one of his characters humorous, but some people are just assholes that lack a sense of humor. So, if you are one of those types, don’t even bother to read this! If you do have a healthy sense of humor, but have only paid attention to one or two characters he’s played, read on (or if you just appreciate the guy, this will be of interest)!

I’ve compiled a list of my favorite comedic roles he’s portrayed over the years. This list will not include his dramatic or more serious roles. He is a great dramatic actor, but comedy is truly his forte, and I really wish someone in Hollywood would write an incredible comedy film script that could bring his finest talents back into the spotlight. It’s been a while since he’s been in a rip-roaring hilarious feature, and I blame that on the absolute garbage that has come out of Hollywood in the past 10+ years. I think the last really great comedies I’ve seen were anything involving Sacha Baron Cohen, Bad Santa, The Forty Year Old Virgin, and Stepbrothers. Everything else has been totally lame, and I am sick of seeing the same five actors in the same roles over and over again!

With that said, here are my favorites, and I will note: these are original characters developed by Jim, not impersonations (which he is incredible at doing, but these are his own creations).
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When Community Is A Commodity

By Less Lee Moore

A couple of weeks ago, Community fans rejoiced when the ratings-challenged show was renewed for a fourth—albeit truncated—season, but the relief was tempered with concern, as by May 17, it was still not confirmed whether showrunner and creator Dan Harmon would be returning.

On May 18, Deadline reported that David Guarascio and Moses Port would be the new showrunners. It was disappointing for fans of the show, admittedly a group of people more aware of and invested in the behind-the-scenes goings-on than your average TV viewer.

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The Lowbrow Reader Reader

By Michelle Patterson

Let me preface my take on The Lowbrow Reader Reader which a bit of nostalgia: When I think about the candy I had as a child—the kind that I tried to sneak under my parents’ radar because of the illicit pleasure of spending my allowance on the various toxic-looking treats at the corner store—I only get nostalgic for a few of them and upon closer inspection, my choices were pretty telling. The soda candy, in which the soda-type-liquid is encased in tiny, hard plastic bottle-shaped blobs, was some of the foulest-tasting candy on this earth, both past and present, but I still sucked that down with joyous glee. Candy cigarettes, in both hard and gum form, actually evinced a chuckle from my mom when she did find a pack in the back pockets of my shorts, while doing laundry, because she used to “sneak them,” as well.
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Ode to a Poet’th Poet: Ernie Kovacs, Percy Dovetonsils . . . thpeaks

By John Lane

Let’s start the proceedings with a heartfelt ode to Omnivore Recordings for bringing to light a long-lost and rumored (but now real!) holy grail in comedy history. That grail is Ernie Kovacs: Percy Dovetonsils . . . thpeaks
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Top Ten Movies To Look For In 2011: Follow Up

By Lisa Anderson

In late 2010, I made a list of the 2011 films that I was most interested in. With many year-end retrospectives going on, I thought I’d go back over the list and report on how these movies compared to my expectations.

1. Red Riding Hood

Of all the movies on my list, this one probably disappointed me the most. The story was muddled and didn’t make use of folklore and symbolism in the way it could have. The love triangle was not as interesting as it could have been, and there were disappointing performances all around from otherwise amazing people. Last but not least, the script missed the perfect opportunity to have the wolf throw back its head and howl at the moon. Red Riding Hood had its good moments and there were things I liked about it, but overall, you’re better off watching Hanna (reviewed here) for an innovative, feminist take on fairy tales.
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Best Of 2011: Less Lee Moore

As always, I wish I’d had the time and resources available to experience more, but here are some of the things that made 2011 memorable (in alphabetical order, to be fair).

À l’Intérieur (Inside) at TIFF Bell Lightbox, August 20: Though I’d already watched this film three times on DVD, I felt that I needed to see it on the big screen. I’ve probably said this a few times already, but it’s still true: it manages to completely transcend the horror genre to become a bona fide work of cinematic art. It is indescribable and powerful and if you haven’t experienced it yet, you should.

Adam Ant: For all those folks who thought he was a crazy, bloated has-been, recent live performance clips on YouTube will more than prove those half-baked theories wrong. He’s so much more than the guy who did “Goody Two Shoes” and any and all adulation for him is well deserved. His descent into madness, fall from grace, and subsequent return to form (used in the truest, most non-cliched sense ever) are remarkable achievements. He remains, after thirty years, a huge inspiration to me. (more…)

Jimmy Carter and The Rabbit Incident

Even at the best of times, it’s no picnic being the President of the United States. Being President in the 1970s was practically impossible.

Nixon inherited the bloody Vietnam conflict and struggled to govern a deeply divided nation through the oil crisis, economic stagnation, and that little Watergate thing. Athletic, competent Gerald Ford started out his brief presidency by pardoning Nixon for his crimes, heroically sparing the country an even more divisive trial; for his trouble, he got not one but two assassination attempts, and Chevy Chase turned him into a bumbling national joke. But nothing compares to the travails of our Thirty-ninth President, James Earl Carter. Double digit inflation. A bloated and unresponsive federal government. The collapse of Iran, the rise of radical Islam, and the intractable hostage crisis.

And the rabbits. The relentless, murderous rabbits.

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That Beatty Touch: Heaven Can Wait

By Less Lee Moore

Although it was released in 1978, Heaven Can Wait was one of my favorite films to watch again and again on HBO in the dawn of the 1980s.

Along with Foul Play, which was released in the same year (and is another fave), it’s a film that’s intended for adults, but which still possesses enough sweetness to appeal to a younger audience.

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So They Were Stars: The Razzle Dazzle Rockin’ Reign of the Hudson Brothers

By Cait Brennan

The Bible says music tore down the mighty walls of Jericho. In the 1960s and ’70s, rock and roll did the same for a generation of girls and young women. The rise of pop culture brought women and girls an unprecedented level of freedom, power, and influence. Perhaps it can’t quite be called “feminist,” and it may seem like a small thing, but before the mid-’60s, before the Beatles and Monkees, who could have imagined whole magazines devoted to pin-up boys?
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Greetings Traveller: Tales From Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

By Paul Casey

Greetings traveller. Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace was a Sci-Fi/Horror spoof aired on Channel 4 in Britain in 2004. Created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade—who you may be familiar with as Moss from Graham Linehan’s The IT Crowd—Garth Marenghi did not receive the mainstream love of The Mighty Boosh or Peep Show, and yet of all of the sublime, interconnected comedy to come from Britain in the last decade, it may be the greatest.

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