Pages tagged “john oliver”

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Catching Up With… John Oliver

John Oliver plays an uppity know-it-all on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart; in his five years on the job, he’s become a reliable fixture for full-fledged British smarminess. But there are only traces in his stand-up, where the seasoned comic is free to mock trashy American culture and politics with a much more ingratiating presence.  read more

Community Review: "Early 21st Century Romanticism" (2.15)

One of my favorite things about Community is the sheer number of unique episodes the show’s had already in less than two seasons. Last week’s episode was one of those, re-framing the entire show within the world of a fantasy game, but that still leaves us the rest of the episodes. You know, the ones that don’t have a gimmick to rely on, the ones that need to go back to old-fashioned sit-com storytelling in order to get their points through. Unfortunately, those episodes aren’t really the show’s strength, even when there’s nothing particularly wrong with them. It’s just that,...  read more

Community Review: "Pascal's Triangle Revisited" (1.25)

Last week’s episode of Community in many ways felt like the season finale, not just because it covered the college’s finals but also because it featured the sort of large-scale events that are usually only brought into play during finales. Señor Chang being knocked down to student Chang (his first name hasn’t been mentioned yet, has it?) was the type of unexpected move that isn’t normally deployed in just any random episode. As much as Community is a show that constantly questions our basic assumptions about sit-coms, for the most part it remains a party to the greater constant of...  read more

John Oliver's TV Show to Feature Eugene Mirman, Paul F. Tompkins, Janeane Garofalo, Many More

Comedy Central certainly can recognize when it’s found talent. First, it spun off the popular Stephen Colbert into his own Colbert Report, propelled from his success on The Daily Show. Now, the cable network has offered another one of Jon Stewart’s correspondents the chance to go solo....  read more

Salute Your Shorts: Dan Harmon's Channel 101 Shows

Salute Your Shorts is a weekly column that looks at short films, music videos, commercials or any other short form visual media that generally gets ignored.For any longtime fans of Dan Harmon’s work, Community is a surprise. Not the fact that it’s good, no, that’s something that we could all be pretty sure of. It’s that the show, a relatively conventional sitcom, could come from the avant-garde co-founder of Channel 101, whose prior claim to fame involves shows such as Computerman and Laser Fart. He’s long been a superstar for a relatively niche group of Los Angeles filmmakers and comedians,...  read more

Top 12 Bonnaroo Moments

Somehow, 2009 marked my first Bonnaroo. After years of hearing stories of the hot, dust-laden, never-ending days in Manchester--combined with years of attending festivals and being unimpressed by inferior sound, overcrowded grounds and annoying sound bleed--I was skeptical. But I enjoyed every moment of Bonnaroo. Great acts were a given (as they've been at most fests I've attended), but the festival was large enough to constantly hold my interest but, somehow, still manageable. Sound was great, crowds didn't interfere with seeing or hearing bands, bleed was minimal, and fest organization was impressive.There are many great moments I missed. I'm kicking...  read more

The Boss Rules Bonnaroo with a Pumped Fist

Usually at Bonnaroo, my musical ADD makes me hop from one show to another after six or eight songs—there’s just so much good stuff to hear. But two artists accounted for over five hours of my time yesterday—Wilco and Bruce Springsteen. A two-hour set from Wilco reminded me that the band has two of my favorite guitarists—Jeff Tweedy and Nils Cline—and Pat Sansone ain't no slouch. I Tweeted to the world (or at least the small portion of the world that gives a crap about my proclamations) that there are very few live bands better than Wilco right now. But...  read more

How awesome was Revenge of the Book Eaters? A ticket price breakdown

As far as bargains go, Oct. 7th's Revenge of the Book Eaters was like paying for a burger and being served filet mignon. Talented, witty and charming filet mignon. ...  read more