3. 555
2. Home-Mercials
1. Two Truths and a Lie
Showing posts with label sketch comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sketch comedy. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Top 3 More Videos For You to Enjoy!
Thanks to the people who came to our first live show. Now, even if you didn't go, enjoy three more short videos from The Works! Also subscribe to our shit or whatever!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Top 5 Best Videos on YouTube
You'd think something like this would be subjective. It's not. These are the best videos on YouTube and I am right.
5. I Love this School
4. IgorsPooh Fake Poo Creation
3. "Stalactites" by Mr. Arseon
2. Snorlax Owns
1. Star Wars Trumpet Solo
Friday, January 30, 2009
Top 13 Onion News Network Videos
Alright, so right now I'm interning at the Onion News Network, which basically means it's my job to watch their funny videos and update various databases of information about their funny videos. So I have watched a lot of their funny videos. Here are their best funny videos.
13. Historic 'Blockbuster' Store Offers Glimpse of How Movies Were Rented in the Past
12. In the Know: Was There Too Much Sex and Profanity in the HBO Presidential Debate?
11. FCC Okays Nudity On TV If It's Alyson Hannigan
10. NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'
9. Gap Unveils New 'For Kids By Kids' Clothing Line
8. 'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play a Character Playing 'Warcraft'
7. In the Know: Is the Government Spying on Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?
6. Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
5. Gunman Kills 15 Potential Voters in Crucial Swing State
4. New Portable Sewing Machine Lets Sweatshop Employees Work On the Go
3. Obama Runs Constructive Criticism Ad Against McCain
2. In the Know: Should the Government Stop Dumping Money Into a Giant Hole?
1. Congress Debates Merits of New Catchphrase
Monday, January 19, 2009
Top 3 Reasons to Come See Calgary Whalers Present the Deck Today (Monday, January 19)
Occasionally I do these when I am going to perform some stand-up! Hooray, these posts are ubiquitous and annoying! The time is 8:30 PM and the place is Broadway Comedy Club.
They will be great hosts like they always are and great people and stuff and also maybe they will talk about the fact that their MADE follow-up has now aired even though I haven't actually seen it but I heard that it did air. COOL.
2. Sam Grittner, Andrew Ward, For Richard Stands, Mancrush, and Mickey and Sandy will be there
Grittner has been there before, and he's very funny. I haven't seen any of the rest of these groups before, but I'm sure they'll be great!
1. I will be doing a fully new 10 minutes
Yes these lists always end with me being self-important and telling you to come see me! This time it will be 10 completely new minutes that you have never heard before! NICE. Also though some of it might be kinda crappy since I've never done it before. But some of it will be hilarious and all the more so for being so brand spanking new. NICE AGAIN.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Top 2 YouTube Sketches You Must Watch Right Now
Hey, guys. Did you know that I was in a sketch comedy group called The Works? Did you know that we're hilarious? Did you know that two of our sketches are now available on YouTube? Well, now you know.
2. Choice and Life
1. Cereal Box Prizes
If you enjoyed those--and how could you not?--subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have two more sketches shot that should be edited and up on the site relatively soon, and we're going to try to meet a quota of a sketch a week over the next several months at least. Enjoy!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Top 12 Lowest Forms of Humor
I've thought about writing this a bunch of times, but usually dismissed it as too pretentious and self-righteous. Well, I don't have any other ideas today, so here goes.
12. Ethnic humor
One of the more obvious candidates as a low form of humor is the mocking of certain ethnicities, usually limited to condescending, unfunny accents or punchlines about the Polish, but sometimes into the realm of outright xenophobia and racism. (There's a British comic whose material is actually largely about how much he hates the immigrants who work in various stores he frequents--if I could remember his name, I'd link him so you could be amazed that someone like that hasn't been ripped to shreds yet.) Anyway, this one comes in at the end, because in circles of largely intelligent people, it's pretty-well stamped out, or at least the worst forms of it are.
NOTE: Humor about race or racism isn't necessarily "ethnic humor," and if it's funny, it probably isn't. I wouldn't consider, say, anything in the British Office to be ethnic humor--it's not about people fulfilling stereotypes, it's about people having racist attitudes. Which is smart, not low.
11. "That character is so gay" humor
Kind of goes along with the above, but a lot more people are still willing to laugh at a line like, "Gay Bobby, you sure ate all those hot dogs fast!" even though it's no more intelligent than, "Black Bobby, you sure ate all that watermelon fast!" For that reason, it's higher on the list than ethnic humor. But just as low. Or lower.
10. Jokes comparing vaginas to roast beef
I theorize that anyone who has ever made one of these has either never seen a vagina or never seen roast beef. The latter seems unlikely, but I've heard women make these jokes, and I assume most of them have seen their own vaginas. In any case, whatever tiny bit of truth there was to it in the first place, it's been so completely washed under thousands of jokes with this at the core that it's really, really unfunny now.
9. Michael Jackson jokes
You'd think these don't exist anymore, wouldn't you? It's been so long since Michael Jackson been in any way in the spotlight that "Michael Jackson jokes" would seem to be kind of in the realm of "Monica Lewinsky jokes," where people are more likely to make fun of people making them than actually make them in earnest. So why was there one in the Christmas episode of 30 Rock, the smartest show on TV? (Kenneth: "Those are going to be the happiest poor kids since me and my brothers went to Neverland Ranch.") Oof. I have no fucking clue.
8. Jokes about how much spouses hate each other
Weirdly enough, I see this stuff show up nowadays in poorly-written college-kid stuff probably more often than I see it show up anywhere else. Which is doubly weird, because it's the demographic least likely to have any sort of real relationship with it. If your reference point for the relevence of a joke is The Honeymooners, you're probably a little out of touch.
7. Fake book titles with an author named Ima
Is this one too specific? If so, please pick up How to Write a Better List Entry Next Time by Ima Pologetic. Ima Nidiot. Ima Gonna Killa Myselfa.
6. Unnecessarily dated pop culture references
I'm looking at YOU, Family Guy! And Diablo Cody! These jokes are dumber than Raphael in that episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he got hit by the stupid ray! No? Don't remember it? That's because I just made it up! It would be no less terrible of a joke if I didn't!
5. Straight dudes doing something that looks kinda gay
I'm not talking about stuff like the Seinfeld episode "The Outing," where George and Jerry farcically have an argument that is perceived as a couple's argument, then wrestle with their own insecurities. I'm talking about stuff like the Seinfeld episode "The Doll," where Estelle Costanza walks in on her husband, Jerry, and the maestro playing pool without pants. (Okay, so Seinfeld was around long enough to do a lot of bad things as well as basically every good thing.) But seriously, what are we meant to think? That they're embarrassed because, obviously, gay people play pool without pants all the time? What the hell? I think a lot of this humor is based on a mode of thinking that goes something like, "Well CLEARLY it would be extremely insulting to be thought of as gay, so let's laugh at them." This crap idea also provided that atrocious "trying to get each other's hands untied" scene in Pineapple Express, an otherwise pretty good movie.
4. Jokes that vastly overestimate the power of drugs
"He smoked so much pot that he thought he was an airplane! We managed to stop him before he took off on a nonstop flight for Denver!" Pause for uproarious laughter from concerned parents, or someone else who believes that is in any way plausible.
3. "That's what she said."
You guys remember when The Office started doing this, but it was ironic, mocking Michael for being so stupid as to think that it was brilliant? And then people who were fans of The Office started saying it a lot, but unironically? Yeah, I don't get people.
2. "Come" puns
Similarly, I have no idea how anyone still laughs at something like, "Sorry you came late, but hey, at least you came, right?" Bonus negative points and a warrant out on your head if you pair one of these with the above.
1. Dead baby jokes
This is probably the ultimate in fake-edgy humor. Dead baby jokes are such an established humor trope that you are challenging absolutely nobody by telling one. Haha, you can laugh at gross things, congratulations, you are so cool. I will continue to laugh at funny things.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Top 11 Rob Riggle Moments on The Daily Show
Well, I was very saddened to learn that Rob Riggle has filed his last report and will no longer be a correspondent on The Daily Show when the show returns from winter hiatus. I wish him well on his future venture, a half-hour project with CBS, and until it comes out, I'll miss him. To fill my need during the next few months' Riggle drought, I'll watch these clips, which are my favorites from his two-year tenure. The top three alone are enough to convince me that he's one of the best Daily Show correspondents of all-time.
11. Riggle v. Gas Prices
10. Riggle v. Cupcakes
9. Riggle v. the Military Plan in Iraq
8. Riggle v. Torture
7. Riggle v. the Internet
6. Riggle v. the Fools Who Don't Understand Sarcasm
5. Riggle v. Media Hyperbole
4. Riggle v. the Chinese Economy
3. Riggle v. Empty Rhetoric
2. Riggle v. the Other America
1. Riggle v. Stupid Protestors
I think we can all agree that Riggle was the winner in every case.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Top 10 Reasons to Believe in and Watch Current Saturday Night Live
For some dumb reason, it's an accepted bit of conventional wisdom among a lot of people that Saturday Night Live has lost it, and will never be as glorious as it was in the 70s/80s/90s/whenever you remembered loving it. Well, you know what? Whenever you loved it, people were saying SNL had lost it then, too. (Unless it was the very first season, in which case, you should shut up anyway.) Yeah, SNL goes through rougher and stronger patches, but if you follow the series at all, you'll realize that this season it's certainly in one of its stronger jags. It's funny, smart, and absolutely worth watching each week. Let me explain:
10. SNL has always had a lot of filler
I'm sorry that the first reason here is more of an excuse than a positive affirmation of the show's qualities, but it needs to be said: even the best years of SNL have had a lot of mediocre/lame/outright stupid sketches. The recent release of the first few seasons on DVD has particularly shown that even in its lauded first couple years, there was still realiably a good 30 minutes worth of the 90 minute show that nobody could possibly care to ever see again. Which is probably why SNL is almost always rerun as an hour-long show instead of a 90-min. And that is probably part of why you remember what was good from then, and not what was filler. Yep, it has filler today, too, but no more filler than it ever did, and the strong stuff is quite strong. Okay, that out of the way, the rest of these will be positive.
9. They're doing good parodies of classic cultural pieces
Something that SNL has sometimes avoided is doing cultural parody of classic culture rather than current pop culture. Yes, you risk alienating a young audience that might not be extremely familiar with Of Mice and Men or Mary Poppins when you do stuff like this:
and this:
but the learning curve to figure it out isn't too hard, and for those who know the material well (read: most mildly-educated people), these are both pretty smart and funny sketches. I'm glad they're doing this more this season.
8. Some of their newer writers are fantastic and heroes of mine in other endeavors
Now, I know that the fact that the writers are funny outside the show doesn't necessarily mean that in the show they're great, but two young writers who have been added in the last year--Simon Rich and John Mulaney--are both guys that I'm huge fans of outside of SNL, and I'm sure they've made great contributions to the recent improvement of the show's writing. Simon Rich, former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Lampoon, has written two collections of short humor pieces and publiched several of them The New Yorker, such as this:
which is very funny. On the other side of the coin, John Mulaney is hands-down one of the funniest stand-up comedians I have ever seen or heard, and I listen to and watch kind of a lot of stand-up (for some reason I can't embed this):
Rich is now in his second year as a writer on SNL, and Mulaney is in his first.
7. They're being adventurous in their choice of hosts
Who is Jon Hamm? I don't know, I've never seen Mad Men either. But in any case, Lorne Michaels (or somebody else) managed to use some sixth sense to peg him as a great sketch actor even if he isn't an A-list modern cultural figure (yet), and got him on the show. And oh, man, he was great:
Other similarly impressive choies, though none that wowed me as much as Hamm: Josh Brolin, Paul Rudd, and last night's John Malkovich.
6. They're doing good topical stuff that isn't just impression-based
Saturday Night Live has always been pretty good at nailing the humanity of of political figures, or topical stuff in general when they have a specific personality to engage with. But they tend to be a little weaker when it comes to a conceptually smart take on a current event, which is why I've been quite impressed so far this season:
And, on the more political/topical side, one that contains some impressions but is more about the smart, aggressive angle:
5. Along those lines, the political stuff that is impression-based has, obviously, been great
This is the stuff that you've admitted to your friends is good even if you haven't seen a whole episode yet. Fred Armisen's Barack Obama is better than most people have given him credit for--I'm sure people will start realizing that it's a very good impression once the writing finds a more aggressive angle on him. And Hammond's McCain has been solid, too. But of course, the scene-stealer has been Fey's Palin. This one was, I think, the best of hers:
4. They're not afraid to go "out there"
There's been a good amount of pretty adventurous, weird stuff on SNL this year. It doesn't always work, but when it does...
And...
3. Their pop cultural parody is spot-on
As much as I can talk about the satirical topicality or classic cultural parody that SNL is doing right now, their bread and butter are two things: first, pop cultural parody. Which isn't necssarily my favorite kind of sketch, but God, when it's done right...
2. Their character-based sketches are solidly above-average
This is the other part of the bread-and-butter SNL, the sketches built around a specific actor's character. Which is why this season of Saturday Night Live is being ruled by Kristen Wiig:
1. The cast is almost across-the-board fantastic
I think that Wiig is pr0bably my favorite cast member right now, though Will Forte, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis all impress me and vie for that spot on a very regular basis. (Amy Poehler is great too, but she'll be gone soon.) Bobby Moynihan has been good in what he's done so far, Fred Armisen has done some really fantastic stuff, Darrel Hammond has never been bad in all his million years on the show, and Kenan Thompson sometimes underwhelms me but was so good in that View sketch that I think show is starting to know how to use him right. I haven't been impressed by any of the new girls yet, but I'm giving them time, because current Saturday Night Live is WORTH IT.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Top 4 Reasons to See The Calgary Whalers Present: the Deck on Monday, November 24 (today!)
Alright, if you read this blog regularly, then you are probably sick as hell of me plugging my own stand-up gigs at Justin Grace and Mike Pullan's shows. So I'll make this one (8 PM at Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W. 53rd Street) brief:
4. Sam Grittner, Shaina Rubin, Mike Grinspan, SMIRK, Taco Knight, and Alex Weinberg will be performing
Alright, some of these dudes I know (Shaina, Alex, Mike), and some I don't (um, the rest of them), but the ones I know are funny peeps, and I trust that the ones I don't know will be hilarious. Sorry if I am giving these people short shrift, but I am lazy and want this to be a short list.
3. Justin Grace and Mike Pullan (the titular Calgary Whalers) will be hosting
First, I gotta give mad props to a couple guys that have invited me to perform at their show for the first time without having seen my stand-up, and then inviting me back twice. Thanks a lot, bros. Second, these dudes are funny, have a great double-act dynamic onstage, and are MTV stars to boot. They will tie everything together in addition to making you laugh, so come see their show.
2. Fruit Paunch will be performing
The members of Columbia's improv troupe--Fruit Paunch--are across the board pretty close friends of mine, and one of them may even be my girlfriend (that's probably just a rumor though). So an accusation of bias would be warranted, but I truly believe that they are one of the most consistent, funny, and intelligent improv groups I have ever seen, and definitely the best of all of those for any college improv group. So if you like good improv, come for Paunch. Bonus: Peter, though now graduated, is a former Fruit Paunch member.
1. I, Rob Trump, will be performing stand-up comedy
YES THIS IS HOW THESE END OKAY WITH LOTS OF SELF-IMPORTANCE. First off, thanks for coming to see me one or two times if you've done it already. My performance today will be about 5-6 out of 10 minutes of new material even if you've seen me both times, and though I'll overlap some stuff you may have seen, I'm not going to double overlap at all (that is, anything I've done twice at a Whalers show now is OFF-LIMITS). That means that if you've only seen me at one of the last two shows, it will be about 8 minutes of new no matter which time you saw me. If you haven't seen me at all yet, you're a bad friend. Or not my friend. You can fix either of those by coming.
Also, this will likely be the last time for a little bit that I perform at a Whalers show, because I'm too busy and write too slowly to produce 5-6 minutes of new material every two weeks, and I'd feel like a dick inviting people to see stuff they've mostly already seen. If you miss me now, you won't be able to see me for...a WHILE. And you WANT to. Because I am FUNNY.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Top 6 Reasons To Go See The Calgary Whalers Present: The Deck on Monday, November 10th (today!)
Okay, if you feel like you're having deja vu, well, yeah, I posted a similar self-promoting list two weeks ago, when I was performing at the same event. And yeah, I'm turning this into an endless string of plugs for myself. I am doing this because I am great and deserve all the plugs. Here is why you should come see me (Rob Trump) and several other people/groups perform sketch/stand-up/improv--8 PM at Broadway Comedy Club (318 W 53rd Street), $5 cover and one-drink minimum:
6. The stand-up comic Aaron Haber and the improv group Secret Promise Circle will be performing
Alright, so I've got no clue who either of these people or groups are, but read that similar older list (God I am lazy) to see why unknown entities are great. Last time, the performers I didn't know were excellent, and I have every reason to believe they will be so this time as well.
5. Michael Grinspan will be performing stand-up
Now, before Michael gets offended, since I put him as my #2 reason to see the show last time, let it be known that it does not reflect negatively on him--he was excellent, and I was very impressed by his stand-up set. The reason he has moved down is that there are just exponentially more awesome things at this show than there were at the last show. Anyway, Michael was very funny last time, and I am hoping for a return of the fantastic bit about "Never Have I Ever."
4. The sketch group Brando will be performing
So here's something cool--I've actually seen Brando perform before. They were the first part of a two-part show with Kate McKinnon's hilarious one-woman show being the second part, and the one I went to see. So, naturally, I was skeptical of anything else I had to sit through. But Brando was great. Really, consistently funny, smart, well-written, and not stupid "theater kid" sketch comedy. I'm excited to see them again.
3. Justin Grace and Mike Pullan ("The Calgary Whalers") will be hosting, and there will be MTV cameras there to record their every move
That's right, this evening will be taped by MTV, as a follow-up to an episode of Made that featured Grace and Pullan. I'm hoping they don't actually use any footage of me, since I don't really want to be on the record saying some of the stuff I'm going to say. But whatever, balls-out. Anyway, you could be the background crowd in a follow-up episode of Made, hosted by two funny dudes! Sounds awesome to me!
2. DC Pierson of Derrick Comedy will be performing stand-up
If you have the internet, you are probably aware of Derrick Comedy from highly-circulated videos like this one and this one. But the best Derrick sketch is not either of those. It is this one:
DC Pierson is the long-haired, nerdy-lookin' guy who usually plays the straight man in their videos, as he does in that one. He's very funny, and the group in general has basically rejuvenated my faith that the internet can make stars out of people doing real comedy, not just people doing doing goofy non-sequitur "internet comedy." Derrick is an inspiration to us all, and I'm really excited to see what Pierson's stand-up is like.
1. I will be performing stand-up
Who are you kidding? Of course this was going to be #1. If you saw my ten-minute set last time, and agreed with me that I was hilarious, then you will also find this funny, but not too repetitive. I'll be doing about 60% material you've never seen if you've only seen me at that last show, so it's worth seeing me even if you did. Included in that 6 minutes of previously unseen will be (mini-list):
1. the most offensive thing I've ever written, which I've held off over a year after writing before trying to perform it (read: possible train wreck, gotta be there)
2. a story about me doing illegal things (what illegal things? BE THERE)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Top 6 Reasons to Go See The Calgary Whalers Present: The Deck
So, on Monday, 8 PM, at the Broadway Comedy Club (318 W. 53rd St.), there will be a show in which I (Rob Trump) will be performing some stand-up comedy. It is called The Calgary Whalers Present: The Deck, and it promises to be glorious. Here are some reasons you should go:
6. Luke Thayer will be performing stand-up
Okay, I'll be completely honest, I have not actually met Luke Thayer, nor do I know anything about him. But that is a WILD CARD and if you have ever played Uno then you know what wild cards do (hint: win). Also, I Googled him and found this little profile of him and he looks fun and now I feel creepy.
5. Spare Change will be performing
What will they be performing???? I HAVE NO IDEA!!!! I don't know if Spare Change is an improv group or a sketch group or a rock group or a painting group or a groupie group or a grouper. It is also hard for me to Google them as "spare change" is actually a really common phrase (who knew?). But in this case, consider them an even WILDER card, like Wild Draw Four or something, and you wish you were holding a lot of those cards like you wish you had a lot of Spare Change (onstage and in your pocket).
4. I heard two weeks ago was a damn good time
I'll come clean that I wasn't there two weeks ago (I might've been in the audience, but instead I was doing five minutes at an open mic that was totally LAMER than this could ever possibly be!), but all reports back from the event were a positive and rockin' good time. I have no reason to believe that this week will be any less rockin' and may even be more rockin'???? IT IS UP TO YOU, THE VIEWER!!! but not really but the people who it is actually up to will be on their top form.
3. Justin Grace and James Michael Pullan ("The Calgary Whalers") will be hosting
Okay, here are some people that I know or half of a group of people that I know or something. They will probably be doing some combination of talking-at-ya and sketches, and I know from PERSONAL, PRIVATE experience, that Justin Grace is a funny fellow. I do not actually know his good friend James Michael Pullan (and I cannot imagine that he goes by all three of those cumbersome names), but I can only assume that Justin would not consort with a man who was not also kneeslapper-inducing. Plus I heard their stuff was good last time.
2. Michael Grinspan will be performing stand-up
You know Michael Grinspan from Chowdah, The Fed, the creation of "Fascbook: the Facebook Group for Fascist[s]," and general campus visibility. I know Michael Grinspan from a hole in the wall, but just barely, as he was behind the hole in the wall last time I stuck my penis in it as part of a formulaic joke (I don't know what that meant). Michael Grinspan has on occasion made the rafters ring with laughter so that their ringing shattered glass and it was the glass that the rafters were made of in a house of glass where I was throwing stones and what the hell stop writing Rob. Plus, I heard his stuff was good last time.
1. I will be performing stand-up
Are you kidding? This is totally the reason you want to go most. I am hilarious. I will be hilarious for ten minutes. STRAIGHT.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Top 10 Numberwangs
The other day, a friend introduced me to a glorious recurring Mitchell and Webb sketch called Numberwang. Watch all of these, in this order, first, then endure my musings.
1. "Numberwang"
2. "Numberwang, Pt. 2"
3. "Numberwang, Pt. 3"
4. "Numberwang, Pt. 4"
5. "German Numberwang"
6. "Wordwang"
7. "The Numberwang Code"
8. "Numberwang: the Board Game"
9. "The History of Numberwang"
10. "Live Numberwang"
What's really brilliant about this concept, I think, is the way that they capture the manic energy of the rapid-fire game shows that they're parodying, but manage to remove absolutely all of the content. They end up with something that feels familiar to and is just as eminently watchable as World Series of Pop Culture or The 64,000 Dinari Pyramid or whatever, but without anything discernable that the game show is about. For my money, the best ones are the first one for being so original and spot-on, and "Numberwang: the Board Game," which has one of the funniest lines I've ever heard in any sketch. The "History" one loses me a little; I prefer to think that there is absolutely no system to determining what is "Numberwang" and what isn't, which seems to fit the spirit of the sketch more than "an extremely complicated system." But I'm nitpicking. This shit is awesome.
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