Tig Notaro. The Funniest Comedienne You've Never Heard Of.

Tig Notaro at Bumbershoot

So around 6:00am, when I usually leave for the day, to wake up, I've got coffee in hand, an ambivalent attitude towards waking life, and my Pandora shuffle on. Not proud of this, but a lot of my channels are stand up comedy-centric. Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Iliza Shlesinger etc. On one such occasion, someone came on my shuttle who's voice, delivery and punchlines seemed totally unique to me, even though at that point I'd heard it all. 

I looked down at my shuffle and it told me it was playing a segment from Tig Notaro's special, called 'Taylor Dane'. And let me tell you I almost doubled over laughing. Her routine was unlike anything I had heard before. I know a lot of writers, a lot of comics, and they all govern their routines by the idea that there is a long build up to a punch line. The greater the punch line, the more elaborate the build up. Tig seemed to speak just as if she was having a conversation, in a very recognizable, 'so what' delivery style, as if she was having a personal conversation with you, and not trolling for laughs. My father always used to say that it was the person with nothing to say that projected the loudest, and when the person who actually knew what they were talking about started to speak, they always did it softly and slowly, so that everyone brought their own vigor down so they could hear the words. Such is the case with Tig Notaro. 

Tig's album (Good One) now available on iTunes and Spotify

I didn't know anything about her at the time, so I did my wiki research, and turns out this woman, in her early 40's had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. I can't remember how much time she was given, but it wasn't a lot. She had an act to do at Largo in Los Angeles, and instead of canceling, being the bold brash force that she was decided to go out there and just talk about it. In the best and most humorous way you can do. It's perhaps the ballsiest thing I've heard a performer do. 'Good evening, hello. I have cancer, how are ya?' the set starts. Many of her comic friends were in the audience, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis among them, and even they couldn't believe their ears. Her performance that night was instantly considered legendary and overnight this fringe comedienne had become a sensation. She was interviewed by everyone and their mother, and shone a light on the absolute hell that it is to try to be funny in the face of perhaps the most devastating thing that can happen to someone. 

Tig and her wife Stephanie.

Within some time, she had a double mastectomy and removed all traces of the cancer that was ravaging her body. She also got married to a lovely women who played her love interest in In a World... 

Netflix (bless them) has recently started to stream a documentary about her simply called...you guessed it; Tig. In it, she chronicles everything that I just told you about, compounded with the sorrow of losing her mother and trying to conceive one with her wife although taking hormones was in her words 'like throwing a match on the fire' of the dormant cancer that had ravaged her body for years. 

Although she's not on many people's radar, every comic (in particular Louis CK) have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for Tig, and aside everything that she's been through and is still going through, she is still one of the funniest comics that's out there. Not just women comics. I immediately recognized it, and I hope you will to. Gawd, I never get this sincere or mushy about a topic, and I'd like to lighten the mood. So watch some of the clips below. FWI the Conan O'Brien bit was NOT staged. And check out the aforementioned film on Netflix. 

Films To Stream This Weekend to Celebrate SCOTUS Decision

All streaming on Netflix. You're welcome.

1. PARIS IS BURNING 

2. I AM DIVINE 

3. THE BIRDCAGE

4. EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF QUEER AS FOLK

5. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR 

6. VITO 

7. YOSSI & JAGGER 

8. OUTRAGE 

9. JOHN WATERS: THIS FILTHY WORLD 

10. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT

The Definitive Ranking of Every FriendsGiving on FRIENDS

SEASON #1: TOW Where Underdog Gets Away (9th Place)

After quite the adventure, the 6 finally sit down to the first of their many non-traditional thanksgivings.

Monica plans her first Thanksgiving in the city and it’s the first time she’s cooking for everyone, but everyone has different requests. While watching the parade, one of the floats tears off and the crew go out into the street to see it firsthand, unfortunately when they get back, they realize they’ve left the door to Monica’s apartment locked, and the oven is still on…dun dun dun. In the end the group sit down to Chandler's batch of food; grilled cheese sandwiches and Funions. 

Choice Quote: 
Ross: 'Wow you guys sure have a lot of books about being a lesbian'
Susan: 'Well you have to take a course, otherwise they don't let you do it' 

SEASON #2: TOW with the List (1st place)

'It's always been you, Rach'

 After the climactic kiss between Ross and Rachel, the guys decide to make a list of pro's and con's for both Rachel and Ross' current girlfriend Julie, while Monica tries out bizarre Thanksgiving recipes with something called 'mockolate' a synthetic chocolate substitute. Won't that end well. Alas, Rachel finds the list, and refuses to forgive Ross for it. 'Imagine the worst things that you think about yourself, and the one person whom you trust the most in the world not only thinks them too but actually uses them as an excuse not to be with me' ...Girl's got a point.

Choice Quote: Ross: 'Can't we just use a pen?' Chandler: 'No, Amish boy.'

SEASON #3: TOW with the Football (2nd Place)

'Dad said no more football and he was sick of our fighting so he took the trophy...threw it in the lake'

While prepping for Thanksgiving dinner and watching the game, the gang is inspired to have their own. Only one problem, Monica and Ross are no longer allowed to play because of how violently competitive they are, but they decide to compete anyway for a troll nailed to a two-by-four called the ‘Geller Cup’ while Joey and Chandler try to show off for a Scandinavian neighbor. 

Choice Quote: Monica: 'Let go of me I'm a tiny little woman!'

SEASON #4: TOW with Chandler in a Box (10th Place)

'He's doin' something thinking'

Chandler finally tells Joey that he kissed his girlfriend so in retribution he agrees to be in a wooden box that Monica has around the apartment harkening back to when Joey was stuck in the entertainment unit while his and Chandler’s apartment was being robbed. Once Kathy (the girlfriend) comes over to break up with Chandler, Joey has a change of heart and lets Chandler out to go and ‘get her’. Monica dates Richard's son and everyone is grossed out by it.

Choice quote: Monica: 'Fine, judge all you want, but: married a lesbian, left a man at the alter, married a gay ice dancer, threw a girl's wooden leg in a fire, live in a box!'

SEASON #5: TOW with all the Thanksgivings (3rd Place)

If you want to get a guy to admit he's in love with you, wear a turkey on your head. Thanks, Monica. 

As we well know Chandler has an aversion to Thanksgiving since he was 10 and his parents told him they were splitting up. So everyone delves back into old Thanksgiving memories. Phoebe recounts a past life experience during the Civil War, while the rest remember a high school one when Ross brought Chandler his then college roommate to their place and he met ‘fat’ Monica for the first time. The next Thanksgiving when Monica loses all that extra weight Rachel convinces Monica to take revenge on Chandler after he called her fat the previous year, but she accidentally ends up cutting his toe off. Somehow or another it leads to present-day Monica wearing a turkey on her head to apologize and it works!

Choice Quote: Chandler: That's why I have 9 toes? Because I called you fat?'

SEASON #6: TOW Where Ross Got High (4th Place)

'Mom, dad? Ross smoked pot in college.'

Ross and Monica’s parents join them for their Thanksgiving in the city and there are a few secrets they are about to learn. One  that Monica and Chandler are dating, and two – the reason that they don’t like Chandler is because they thought he was a stoner in college, when it was actually Ross. This leads to a wealth of secrets being revealed; ‘Hurricane Gloria didn’t break the porch swing, Monica did!’. In the meantime, Monica finally lets Rachel cook something, but when making the recipe she doesn’t notice that the pages are stuck together and ends up cooking the infamous English trifle dessert with a layer of minced meat, peas and onions.

Choice Quote: Judy Geller: 'That's a lot of information to get in 30 seconds...'

SEASON #7: TOW Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs (7th Place)

Lesson #187: Don't tell a guy you like him while people are stealing his car'

Phoebe’s been harboring a dog in her room now that she lives in Monica’s apartment and when everyone gathers for dinner the truth comes out. Chandler insists the dog must go because he’s allergic but then has to admit that he hates dogs to everyone’s dismay. Meanwhile, Rachel tries to gauge if her new smoking hot assistant, Tag is interested in her, and Ross tries to name all 50 States which is harder than it sounds. ('Maybe it's so hard because there AREN'T 50 states!?') As uneventful of a plot that it seems it’s actually pretty hilarious. 

Choice Quote:

Joey: 'If he doesn't like you, this is all just a moo point.

Rachel: 'A moo point?' 

Joey: 'Yeah it's like a cow's opinion...it just doesn't matter.'

SEASON #8: TOW with the Rumor (5th Place)

'I said it was typical. Rachel Green, queen Rachel, does whatever she wants in her own little Rachel land!'

Brad Pitt (Monica's 'thin friend' in high school) gets invited for Thanksgiving in which he admits that he used to hate Rachel (oh the irony) back in high school because she was popular and he was fat, ergo she made his life hell. He later goes on to say that they formed the ‘I hate Rachel Green club’ with none other than Ross. Uh oh.

Choice Quote: Ross: 'No need to point, she knows who Ross is' 

SEASON #9:TOW Rachel’s Other Sister (6th Place)

'If you two die and the crazy plate lady dies, then do I get Emily?'

Rachel's spoiled older sister Amy (Christina Applegate) shows up out of the blue saying that their dad kicked her out so she could spend some time with the one daughter he's actually proud of (Rachel). Meanwhile, Monica is especially obsessed with her new wedding plates and as tensions rise between the two sisters that culminate in a full on cat-fight, a plate is broken, and Monica almost faints. But that's not even as bad as it gets...

Choice Quote: 
Rachel: 'I'd like to invite Amy for Thanksgiving' 
Ross: You know, that's a great idea. It's like when the Pilgrims brought the Indians syphilis' 

SEASON #10: TOW With the Late Thanksgiving (8th Place)

Everyone convinced Monica to make Thanksgiving dinner although she's tired of hosting it, but she loves to compete and sees it as a competition between herself and her past-self (beats me). In the meantime Ross and Joey go to a Knick game knowing that they would be late, and Phoebe and Rachel enter little Emma into a child beauty pageant (does that not sound creepy as shit?) Making everyone late to Monica's Thanksgiving dinner which she was reluctant to do in the first place. Hilarity ensues. 

Choice quote: Ross: 'I got robbed, and they stole my pocket.'

I'll Have A Serving of Steve Coogan with a Side of His Michael Caine Impression

banner for the film Steve Coogan on the left and Rob Brydon on the right.

I haven't been able to watch too much lately, too much shit going on, not enough time, also I care about my tan in the Summer, anyway! I finally took advantage of my Hulu+ account for something that doesn't have anything to do with Bradley Cooper and watched The Trip (2012). I didn't know much about it except the fact that it was made by a director I loath; Michael Winterbottom (a pretentious hack with a flair for nothing happening in his films aside from stares and graphic fucking) and that it had a scene where the two principals Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do a hilarious competition of who's got the better Michael Caine impression, something which I've incorporated into my dinner parties believe me. 

The crisis of being middle aged. Steve sans family, stability, and hapiness and Brydon possessing all of those things leads to rivalry between the two.

So here's the story Steve Coogan is feeling very middle aged. He's of course playing himself, and is somewhat depressed after his smokin' hot girlfriend decides they need a break and moves back to the states. Before doing so she had planned a trip for the two of them of the best places to eat in Northern England because she's a huge foodie. 

The reluctant bad-ass.

Let's back track a little bit and give you a bit of Coogan history. He's been a staple of the British tabloids who's exploits are rivaled only by the Royals at this point. Courtney Love herself blames him for turning her on to 'the dark side', and that's saying a fucking lot, and he's always been somewhat sexy-weird and seriously fucked up but not in the oh-god-no kind of way, more of in a that's pretty cool kind of way. And through it all he's maintained somewhat of a serious cool-factor, and a sense of unique British-ness in just letting everything shed right off him no matter how lascivious.

So that's why we still love him in a devil-may-care kind of way, and I find him shamelessly attractive. I want his snide, sarcastic babies, I really do. 

So he decides to take an old friend, Rob Brydon (playing himself as well) along with him, and true to Michael Winterbottom fashion, nothing extraordinary truly happens. Steve laments around being depressed and hitting on random chicks, Rob always tries to one-up Steve in his obsession of being the perfect impressionist which leads to some polite British humor, it's all very genuine, and somewhat depressing for a comedy, but for a film in which nothing happens or changes, I was actually entertained and if not for the two male leads, I don't think I would have been. It's a great existential experience. I'd recommend it, I mean it's free, give it a try.

Below trailers and clips: 

It's Literally The End of the Word. Would You Have Sex With Me Now?

'Well it was just building to the big climax and you just shut it off'

So I'm taking a long and delayed flight back to Los Angeles from Philly today, I've got a smelly fat guy to my right and a rude flight attendant buzzing in my ear. There's little to do except watch Anderson Cooper be too sexy for the news, but relief washes over me in a profound way. I remember that I have a rented HD copy of the new film It's a Disaster (2012) which premiered last year at the LA Film Festival, which I somehow missed whilst there. It's a brilliant dark comedy about the end of the world and just how awkward that can make a couples brunch.
Tracey and Glenn (Julia Stiles and David Cross) are a new couple who have only been on a few dates set off on one of Tracey's traditional couples brunches, but not all is dandy in suburban white people land. One of the couples is getting divorced, one is has been cheating with opposite sides of the first couple and one has set a date to get married 6 years ago, so clearly there's some commitment issues going on there, oh and then just as the brunch is about to be ruined by all this news their neighbor shows up in a haz-mat suit to inform everyone that a bunch of dirty bombs were set off downtown and soon everyone will basically be dead, or so surmises the chemistry teacher in the group (America Ferrara).

'...what's a dirty bomb bro?'

With all of the palpable sexual tension that already exists, things start getting even more awkward and tenisony as everyone begins to cope with the fact that they probably won't make it out of this alive, and it's going to be a really slow and painful way out once they realize that the attack is not nuclear but biological.
The batshit crazy tattooed coke doing couple decide to fuck it, and literally. The feuding couple makes amends, and out of the two ho can't commit, one becomes paranoid trying to decide what the hell is out there like it even matters while his chemistry teacher girlfriend goes outside her mind and decides if she's going to die horrible she's going to be wasted as shit doing it on all the scotch in the house and her own homemade ecstasy.

Theatrical poster for the film, voted into the top 20 movie posters of 2012 by filmschoolrejects.com

So the party is going great. And what of our protagonists, the newly together Julia Stiles and David Cross, well turns out dear Tracey is the perpetually single one at these couples brunches because she always seems to attract crazy (it's like I'm looking in a mirror), but she thinks she's finally found the one in Glenn who comforts her and makes their last night on earth romantic...at least for a while. I don't want to give everything away but poor Tracey realizes that Glenn is just as balls to the wall insane as all the rest of them, and as the options become more and more limited everyone accepts their fate...almost. It's a hilarious sex-comedy slash totally and completely dark, like to the point of I cannot believe I am laughing at this. Which makes it seductively bizarre, and everyone in the cast delivers a great performance that is at once punchy, touching, and right on target. It's a great film, I'm giving it my full recommendation.

Trailer below.

SNL Goes Gay!

This last episode of SNL definitely carried a theme with it, and in light of Minnesota's new passing of legalization of gay marriage, a lot of the content was along those same lines. It's always nice when a tv institution comments on what's important in culture at the moment, particularly if the nature of the show is to be funny, which somewhat makes it harder because the issues commented on are usually incendiary and sensitive, but with Ben Affleck at the helm and it's roster of genius writers and repertory players like John Mulaney, Bill Hader, and Cecily Tyson, SNL themed episode on the topic of gay marriage gets my vote.

Ben Affleck and Taran Killam soooooo want it.

There was the sketch about those ridiculous turn-you-straight camps that unbelievably still exist where Affleck plays the head counselor who used to be gay himself, but now can 'totally control it', although everything in the skit proves otherwise and Affleck's characters just decides to 'let it be'. That was actually mildly funny, but the best gay-marriage themed sketch came in the form of the faux commercial for the new Xanax.

'At my wedding we gave everyone cheez-its and a mini bottle of water. Keith and David got us two tickets to Italy and 40,000$.'

It starts off like any commercial for Xanax except you soon realize it's only Xanax that you require when you start getting invited to many fabulous gay weddings which are always going to be much more perfect than yours or any straight wedding you'll ever go to. It's brilliant satire basically outlining the inevitable truths that gay weddings now that more and more are becoming legal around the nations will always be better and more fabulous than the run-of-the-mill straight wedding no matter how many dancing bridesmaids go down the aisle. 

Seth and Stefon happily return to the Weekend Update stage to have all of their regulars rejoice in their new union.

It all culminated with pop-culture institution Stefon's appearance on Weekend Update where he did is usual bizarre monologue and crack up in the middle of which, but then stated he was no longer interested in Seth Meyers and found a new man and was going to marry him, after which he promptly ran off. What followed was comedy gold. Seth tries to carry on but is clearly distraught. I should mention that Amy Poehler makes a surprise cameo on Update and tells Seth to 'go to him' and in a parody of The Graduate (1968), Seth runs after Stefon whom he find in a church at the alter with none other than Anderson Cooper. It was beyond amazing. Everyone Stefon has ever described in his crazy rants is manifest there, including DJ Baby Bok Choy (remember him?) Seth yells for Stefon, and just like in The Graduate, he gets his bride and they off while Anderson Cooper is left jilted at the alter with a black eye. It was nothing short of art, and Stefon and Seth Meyers are finally run off to a happy life together and after that I feel asleep, content and happy. I should also mention that this was Bill Hader's last episode so it was a very touching farewell.

Below some of the clips. 

Who’s The Biggest Pervert on Arrested Development?

(Warning: Contains endless Arrested Development quotes) Let’s see, what do I do with my time? Like what do I watch how do I keep current? Well since I have a job (It’s something you apply for, and they pay you…) I only have about a couple hours a day. One in the morning when I wake up and get ready, and one in the evening when I get home. After I work out, and before I shower and eventually crash. So I leave those time slots open for my current sick obsession with everything Benedict Cumberbatch, so I’m watching Sherlock (2010 - Present), which I’ve already blogged about, so douche chill…

The only other show I watch is of course The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2009 - Present) because it makes me feel better about myself, though I have to watch it through a hole I cut in a paper plate because of all the HD shiny. As you know, I blog a shit ton about that show as well. So basically outside my office, I have those two things to tell me about the world around me. Skinny blonde bitches in Loubitins and ridiculously complicated and convoluted crimes in England that I’m too stupid to almost follow. But instead of silently saying a prayer that they combine the two shows and have one of the housewives found in a pool of her own blood  (I can’t say which one because ‘that’s a lawsuit’ but we all know who I mean) with Benedict standing above her saying something smug and demeaning, I’ll get back and go full circle (ugh, mixing metaphors) to the show I’ve loved the absolute most since it entered my muddy world and made it beautiful back in 2003; Arrested Development, which Netflix had the wherewithall to renew for a season showing exclusively on their website (Them?)

They’ve basically told everyone else to fuck off, even if it means them taking a chubby, they will suck it up. Now, let’s get out of our excited-as-fuck skirt and put on our thought-process Barbara Streisand in the Prince of Tides ass-masking pants suit.

I mean this is huge. The show was cancelled almost 7 years ago and we STILL talk about it. It’s probably the biggest hit cult series there is, and FOX execs are pieces of shit. I’m sorry, but you are. But let’s not dwell on our anger. I want to go through that beautiful magic of the first three seasons and decide finally who is the biggest perv of the series. And I’ll tell you one thing, it’s probably not who you’re thinking. 

You’re thinking GOB because he dates whores, underage girls, and throws freezing cold water over the shirts of his entirely female baseball team and almost always makes an impromptu sexual innuendo when speaking, but it’s not. That’s just part of his adorably ridiculous character, that even I’ve grown to love. 

Tobias' acting resume headshots

Next, you’re probably thinking it’s Tobias, because literally everything that comes out of his mouth is a sexual reference of some sort, usually attributed to the ‘is Tobias gay question’ that always lingers in the background. But hey, you didn’t get any body chocolate, and actually that’s not even his major arc so no dice on that one.

Then we have the idiot somewhat savant-ish brother Buster, who is one hell of a freak. He comes home sometimes at 7, 8 at night, peanut brittle on his breath, and builds pillow forts with Liza Minelli. I mean he’s a fraaaak. But he’s completely clueless. Remember when he was dating Michael’s rabid assistant and terrified when she wanted to take things to the next level? Mother complex or not, he’s an innocent. 

'my own brother...Michael'

Then of course we have Michael. The hopeless romantic who’s ‘sensitive like a woman’, and just can’t help himself when it comes to a gal with a giggly smile and a pair of soft blue eyes, the lack of sex with which would make anyone crave a 15$ thing of candy beans. But it is his romanticism that crosses him off the perv ladder, because all he’ll ever do to you in bed is hold you close and whisper shit in your ear and you’d get bored if not for the wondrous adorable-ness of him.

If you were thinking Lucille all along, then ding ding ding. You’ve won the grand prize, which is respect from me. Think of it, she’s the classic pervert, more so than any of the men in her life put together. She seduced not only George Sr. but his brother Oscar, and can basically make them do anything she wants (More touching!). She likes to go ‘downtown’ and being ‘lied on’ rather than ‘lied to’.  And that wink of hers could be the most perverted thing I’ve ever seen, but at least we don’t have to ‘say goodbye to these because it’s the last time!!!’ because I have no doubt we’ll be seeing them on Netflix soon enough. Now get me a Vodka rocks. But it’s breakfast? And a piece of toast. 

Her?

Honorable mention goes to: Kitty, George’s fiercely loyal assistant, Maeby for her obsession with idiot Steve Holt and unabashed attraction to her own cousin, Marla Michael’s assistant who was bitten by a rabid dog and has a cryptic attachment to Quincy Jones, and of course, Lucille II…because it’s Liza and that’s all I need. I leave you with the best of...

 

Justin Timberlake: Actor, Singer, Dancer, Comedian, Sex God

My friend once told me right after The Social Network (2010) was released that Justin Timberlake was the greatest post-modern actor at this time, and though I didn’t exactly get what he was talking about and how that was true, I totally do now. But there’s another word I would use to describe him; Renaissance man.

He is like an old-timey singer/dancer under contract to MGM. He’s Gene Kelly with looser pants and killer swagger. We knew him as that slightly annoying girly-sounding, awful white-boy fro 1/5 of pop titans ‘N Sync, and now he’s an institution unto himself.

Lorne Michaels caught on to his comedic talents early on when 'N Sync first appeared in a sketch back in 2003 when they played an offshoot of themselves, and when he decided to ditch the back up singers and fly solo, writing from the depths of his heart about his break up with pop princess Britney Spears in the juggernaut song ‘Cry Me a River’, it was cemented; Timberlake had arrived. 

JT in his signature three piece suit on the cover of GQ

He also knew how to utilize style. Considering how influenced he was by hip hop, it would have been ridiculous if he came on stage in baggy pants, a Hilfiger puff jacket and a sideways cap being all ‘yo yo yo, Timberlake in the house!’, not that that’s how all hip hop artists are, I’m just making a point. He trademarked the three-piece suit and fedora dressing like a 30’s gangster and dancing like Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, and Michael Kidd had a baby. And if you don’t know who Michael Kidd is well then you suck.

With perhaps the most ill-fitting named album ever ‘Future Sex/Love Sounds’ dominating the charts, Lorne Michaels invites Timberlake back to host his own episodes of SNL and last week he became a card carrying member of the 5-times host club, and he’s only 32 people. He found a stellar bromance with repertory player Andy Samberg and together they created some of the most memorable digital shorts of SNL’s entire history. You know them all so it’s redundant to list them one by one.

Justin Timberlake in one of his funniest sketches on SNL, playing Beyonce's back up dancer for her video 'Single Ladies'.

Then what happens? He tackles the only other industry left for him to dominate; the film industry, and boy does he. Yes of course it’s expected of him to be almost effortless in feather light romantic comedies, like an edgier Rock Hudson, but it was when The Social Network came out that we really got to see what he was made of. And one only has to ask, what’s next for JT? The man who can basically do everything? I say he hosts next year’s Academy Awards, or perhaps even gets nominated. He’s slated to star opposite Ben Affleck and Gemma Arterton in Runner Runner (2013) coming out next year, and after that he’s going to play an alcoholic in The Last Drop (2013), perhaps proving to us all that the effeminate soprano from a 90’s fad boy-band has grown leaps and bounds into a pop-culture institution that we can all appreciate. 

As Sean Parker in The Social Network (2010)

PS His new album (released today) is fucking awesome. I guess that was the whole point of this post. 

 PPS, all of his best footage i posted to my Filth Screen facebook page so it's again redundant to give you any more visual pleasure. You can find them here. Filth Screen on Facebook. 

So I'll just leave you with his video for 'Suit and Tie' complete with his Target commercial. Enjoy! 

Pramface – Teen Moms Meets Modern Family Through the British Filter

This show was constantly running promos on HULU so I finally dug in out of desperation for something besides House of Cards and Downton Abbey. I needed to fill that void of delicate dry British humor and all the crap on Lifetime, and Pramheads fit the bill perfectly.

It involves a girl Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) who gets impregnated by a 16 year old who can’t even put on a condom properly. I mean come on British people, I know instructions aren’t written on the side of the plastic but didn’t you ever practice with a banana? Laura’s about to go to Uni (that means college to us Americans) and decides ‘hey, I’m just going to ride this out until it’s just about too late and see what happens'. She ignores being basically a statutory rapist that is with child and decides she’s going to remain drinking buddies with her best friend from High School Yay! Totally awkward and predictable situations ahead!

Jamie (Left) and his best friend contemplate strange and impractical ways of dealing with the situation; this is the major source of the comedy throughout the beginning of the series.

Jamie (Sean Michael Verey) , said father-to-be adorably and clumsy 16 year old tracks her down until she finally has to face the fact that she’s going to have a bloody baby and bloody hell it’s going to be bloody difficult to make this bloody decision.

She decides eventually (SPOILER ALERT) fuck off, it’s in the first episode, that she’s going to keep it, and now there’s going to be a particularly British clash of manners involved when Laura’s parents who are what we can call of the Intellectual Class have to now interact with Jamies', who are not Chavs per se (again American translation – white trash) but are somewhat LOWER middle class. 

Scarlett Alice Johnson is actually quite good as 18 year old preggers Laura who has to somehow tell her no-longer-speaking-to-each-other WASPY parents that she's not all they thought she was, and she's made one huge tiny mistake.

The whole thing permeates of unimaginably easy ways of dealing with unimaginably difficult scenarios, and is actually a lot of the time just plain scientifically inaccurate, but I suppose that a suspension of disbelief goes along with any comedy serial. All in all, this is not too bad, and has some serious actors in it. No I mean it, like RADA actors like Angus Deayton, Anne Chancellor, and Bronagh Gallagher (whom I love, I mean I am so happy she’s still working, she’s a highly underrated actress).

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is skip the Teen Mom marathons on MTV and log on to Hulu to check out this cute little show, it’s little more than that, but it’ll put you in a good mood. 

Promo below.

The Gays Want All Your Babies

Andrew Rennells and Justin Bartha play dads-to-be in new comedy series The New Normal (2012) on NBC

 I was watching the aptly named The New Normal (2012 - ) on Hulu because I had woken up an hour and a half before I have to start getting ready for work (for the love of god why) and I was actually pleasantly surprised. Like most new comedy series, it has some big names (Ellen Barkin, Justin Bartha) and then a bunch of nobodies, building their career with television (Andrew Rannells, Georgia King). It concerns a gay couple who stumble upon a preggers lady who's kind of a quirky ditz because being at all like Zooey Deschanel is a fucking velvet goldmine these days, and decide they want the baby inside of her because they are desperately ready to be daddies...well, mommies who don't breastfeed. Hilarity ensues. Turns out the oven their using to cook their bun has got a conservative grandmother (oh snap!) who is not going to let a couple of Oscar Wilde reading, sweater-vest wearing, marathon knit-club presidents make her grandchild carrying their baby vote for Obama. When usually this is a tired comic ploy, the writers actually made it work pretty brilliantly when Jane (Ellen Barkin) accuses Bryan and David (Justin Barha and Andrew Rannells) that they don't even have any Afro-American friends, so to prove that they aren't hypocrites they have basically what can be referred to as Look-at-How-Many-African-American-Friends-We-Have party. They implore the only African-American person they know, one of their co-workers, to show up and bring her friends. She is played shockingly well by, wait for it...Nene Leaks of Real Housewives of Atlanta fame. If you're having trouble placing her, just think of some of the following catchphrases; 'I'm rich, bitch' and 'close ya legs to married men'. Got it now? But when she shows up at the party and all of her 'friends' are a bunch of white skinny bitches who probably had 'ambien sex with Tiger Woods', it creates quite an awkward situation.

film veteran Ellen Barkin and reality star Nene Leaks make surprisingly awesome additions to the cast.

This is catching unto the idea of gay couples becoming domesticated on television since Modern Family (2009 - ) began the trend a few years ago. While in th 90's it was taboo to even show a gay couple together on primetime, now television execs are taking it a step further and finally bringing us gay parents, albeit it seems like they are always male gay parents. I suppose it's assumed that gay males are naturally very maternal because of the stereotype that they're effeminate, but does that mean that if there was a show about lesbians raising a baby, there would be scenes of the child being strapped to the front of a motorcycle and trying on leather pants at the Baby Hot Topic?

Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells do play characters somewhat similar to Mitch and Cam (Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler-Ferguson) in that one is uptight and obsessive-compulsive, while the other is highly effeminate and sensitive, but the light somewhat sarcastic humor makes it work, even though they are constantly feeding into gay stereotypes like obsessions with gift-wrapping and frequent trips to the Farmer's Market.

Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) are the prototypes who paved the way for domesticated gay couples on television with Modern Family.

This is just one in the growing trend of domesticated same-sex situation comedies. Another one along somewhat similar lines is Partners (2012) with David Krumholz and Michael Urie that premiered yesterday but is not quite as interesting. If you think about it, any show that follows this trend has something regarding this in the title MODERN Family, The NEW Normal, I guarantee the next one is going to have the phrase 'now-a-days' in it. It's a niche in TV that is working very well these days, and just like Will & Grace (1998 - 2006) had done almost 15 years ago, shows like The New Normal are helping tear down the remaining few taboos about the gay community, and doing it tastefully, sweetly, and comically. It's a good thing. 

Below, a promo.