Comedy Bits: This Week in Comedy News: Carol Burnett’s Making a Movie, What’s Next for Ilana Glazer, Chris Rock Breaks the Rules and You’ll Never Believe Who Just Became a Father

 

This week in comedy news was on the quieter side. We covered Ali Wong’s new book, Tiffany Haddish’s new young comedian’s special for Netflix, Sarah Silverman slinging some shit in Hulu’s direction, Barry is back, a Tonight Show visit to the Comedy Cellar, a Wrestlemania announcement of SNL proportions, and a look at the first two episodes of Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot. We also covered Tom Rhodes excellent new THREE HOUR album, Around the World, recorded everywhere!

There were a few stories we missed, or didn’t cover because there just wasn’t enough information available to warrant a full article, and you all are too comedy-informed for us to waste your time recapping all the background to every short story that makes news. But we also don’t want you to miss anything, so here’s some quick cuts covering all the stories we missed this week.

The big news this week- congratulations are in order for Ari Shaffir. The well known wandering comedian is now a proud poppa! Shaffir didn’t have to go to a hospital to enter the realm of fatherhood- he adopted his brand new baby girl. The real surprise here is that his daughter is a fully grown twenty something comedian. Shaffir legally adopted LA comedian and Comedy Store regular Jessica Michelle Singleton in New York City this week. Congratulations you two!

Amy Schumer continued to share the joys of pregnant life, with some more nearly nude instagramming, and a video demonstrating the difficulty of simple tasks, like putting on socks. Over a quarter of a million people have enjoyed watching Schumer sock up. Odds are, Quentin Tarantino is one of them.

Plenty of comedy winners at the NAACP Image Awards this weekend. Black-ish swept stiff competition to nab the Outstanding Comedy Series award, and the awards best comedy actor and actress, AND best supporting actor and actress awards, and Outstanding Performance by a Youth via Tracee Ellis Ross, Anthony Anderson, Marcus Scribner and Marsai Martin. Outside the Black-ish family, Steve Harvey won an award for his Family Feud duties, Childish Gambino won Outstanding Music Video, and the Daily Show with Trevor Noah won an award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Donald Glover took home an award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series, Tiffany Haddish won a Supporting Actress award for her role in Girls Trip, and Black Panther won for a bunch of stuff, but is that a comedy? Maybe.

Chris Rock presented an award at the NAACP Image Awards this year and took a few shots at Jussie Smolliet despite reportedly being asked to steer clear of the topic.  “They said no Jussie Smollett jokes. I know. What a waste of light skin. You know what I could do with that light skin? That curly hair? My career would be out of here. Fucking running Hollywood. What the hell was he thinking? From now on, you’re Jessie from now on. You don’t even get the ‘u’ no more. That ‘u’ was respect. You don’t get no respect from me.”

Carol Burnett‘s book “Carrie and Me: A Mother Daughter Love Story” is being developed as a feature film. The book explores Burnett’s life via a through line of her relationship with daughter Carrie Hamilton, who passed away at the age of 38 after fighting cancer. Source: Variety.

Wyatt Cenac will moderate a discussion on school safety and the school-to-prison-pipeline; a topic that he covers while visiting a Brooklyn public school in the second episode of “Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas” airing on Friday, April 12th. Wyatt will be joined by NYT journalist Nikole-Hannah Jones, Brooklyn’s Research and Service High School Principal Allison Farrington and Legislature Jasmine Gripper. The panel and discussion will be held on Wed, April 10th from 7-9PM at the Soho House in the meatpacking district.

Ilana Glazer is the next comedian making the jump to the horror scene. This will be Glazer’s first post-Broad City project. The series that made her a star just wrapped. Glazer co-wrote and will star in False Positive, with co-stars Justin Theroux and Pierce Brosnan. Source: Deadline

Hot on the heels of a memorable visit to SXSW, Kathy Griffin has announced a new residency at The Comedy Store, promising to perform a brand new hour every week starting on April 1st. She’ll be appearing Monday nights throughout April. Source: The Comics Comic

A new Comedy Central special stars Mekki Leeper, who became a viral sensation after creating a fake product that got picked up by news outlets everywhere. If you heard of Vaev (we hadn’t), the used tissue that promised to boost your immune system, that was Mekki. Watch the trailer for Control Room here.

Comedian Chad Zumock is laying low after getting into some trouble with a highly influential comedian based on some controversial tweets.  It seems that talking shit about Hollywood comedy royalty can cause unexpected heat. The tweets in question caused such extreme blowback that Zumock was forced to close his Twitter to a locked account and now he’s playing the waiting game.  He talked about the issues with some friends, and says he’s dealing with it.  He also delivered some Louis C.K. news while doing some live Instagramming. According to Zumock, said during a recent gig, C.K. gave a $1000 bonus to an opening act, and also tipped every server in the club from the Dishwashers up a crisp C-note. Of course this is unconfirmed so take that with a grain of salt. [CORRECTION:  Original post mistakenly identified the comedian taking a time out as Chad Daniels who did not start trouble on Instagram, but does have a great new hour special out.]

The comedy special “My Dad Wrote a Porno” is coming to HBO. The special based on the hit British podcast of the same name debuts Saturday, MAY 11 at 10:00p.m. ET/PT). Hosted by Jamie Morton, James Cooper and Alice Levine, the exclusive presentation was taped in March before a live audience at the Roundhouse in London. The podcast features Jamie Morton reading a chapter from the “Belinda Blinked” series of “erotic” novels, written by his real-life father under the nom de plume Rocky Flintstone, with his friends James Cooper and Alice Levine providing uproarious commentary. The trio are now bringing Rocky’s infamous “Lost Chapter” to television after a sold-out, critically acclaimed world tour.

Comedian Allan Fuks, host of This Week In Sex has announced two back-to-back tapings of his upcoming stand up album The Worst Jew at the Triad Theater in the Upper West Side of Manhattan on April 13th, 2019 at 9pm and 11pm. The Worst Jew will feature Fuks detailing his self-proclaimed “ghoulish appearance,” his Russian-Ukrainian Jewish upbringing in the South Bronx, having an unfortunate last name (actually pronounced “Fyooks”), and a barrage of humiliating sexual experiences.

Award winning comedian, writer and actor Natalie Palamides brings her hit solo shows LAID and NATE to New York for the first time ever this June. Palamides will perform two separate show runs at The Bell House in Brooklyn, performing LAID on June 4, 5, 6 and NATE on June 11, 12, 14. After winning Best Newcomer at Edinburgh Comedy Awards for LAID, Palamides returned to the festival the following year with her show, NATE which won the prestigious Edinburgh Total Theater Award. New York audiences will get the chance to see both award winning shows for the first time this summer. Hailed as “an unforgettable visceral experience” (Chortle, 4.5/5),LAID is physical theater at its best along with plenty of jokes. NATE is a playful and powerful exploration of masculinity and consent. A dynamic must-see, every show is fearlessly performed and different night to night as Palamides often allows the audience reactions to play a part in the show. NATE received a glowing 5/5 by The Times UK.

A comedian is the frontrunner in a Ukranian election. Volodymyr Zelenskiy who plays a fictional comedian on television is expected to beat both the sitting President and a former Prime Minister during a primary type election this week. Source: Reuters

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