Recently, Will Ferrell’s FunnyOrDie.com teamed up with HBO to present a new television program entitled, Funny Or Die Presents.  The weekly series airs each Friday night and features a rotating cast of comedians, actors, and FunnyOrDie.com regulars.  The first airing of the show took place on February 19th and, although I have never seen a full episode, it appears that the pay-cable version of FOD follows a similar content as that of the website, however the new format seems to provide for a more in-depth and lengthier approach, allowing the contributors to explore new uncharted territory.

Last Friday, HBO aired Episode #4, which featured a presentation by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.  We are huge fans of Tim and Eric’s work from Tom Goes to the Mayor to Awesome Show, Great Job! and, although they have done an amazing job at establishing their own signature style, they still continuously manage to produce new projects that are fresh and innovative.  If you read our review of last years Awesome Tour or have witnessed any of Wareheim’s video directing work, then you probably understand exactly what we’re referring to.  Father and Son, the duo’s contribution to Funny or Die Presents, is dark  and hilarious piece that exhibits even more range and breaks new barriers for the comedy team. (more…)

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“It was either a massive 30-city tour or start helping out around the house”
- Conan O’Brien

By now, most people know all about the drama surrounding Conan O’Brien finally getting the Tonight Show spot and then, more or less, slowly being pushed from the position that he had dreamed about obtaining for so long.  Details and opinions can me mixed but, when it’s all said and done, it doesn’t matter.  The Tonight Show has lost their credibility and Conan has gained even more of it throughout this entire fiasco.  Jay Leno still comes across as your parents friend who tells bad jokes like, “Working hard or hardly working?“, as he took his role back entertaining the elderly with insomnia.

Recently there have been many rumors about what would be 8 foot Irishman’s next move.  The rumor with the biggest hype behind it was that the former talkshow host/comedy writer my be going on a multi-city live tour.  Due to legally binding stipulations in his exit contract with NBC, which would prevent him from appearing in a talk show spot with any other station for months, this would be a great way for O’Brien to sustain his momentum and remain in the public eye in the meantime.  Well, this is now officially much more than a rumor, as tickets for the tour went live this morning.

Being marketed as, “A night of music, comedy, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence“, the 30 city tour kicks off on April 12th in Eugene, OR and ends on June 14th at the FOX theatre in Atlanta, GA.  Perhaps even more surprising than the tour itself, however,  is the information that it will include a stop at the Bonaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN.  The press release states that the live comedy/music review “will include longtime sidekick Andy Richter and the former Tonight Show band” however, word is that Max Weinberg will not be part of it.

Get your tickets fast, because these spots are bound to disappear quickly.

Here are the tour dates: (more…)

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LSD…  it’s a helluva drug.  Back in the day, I did my share (and, perhaps, the shares of a few others).  Some believe that it has the potential to help turn you into such a super genius, that you appear freakishly insane to anyone else that’s not “on your level“.  Then again, it’s always possible that the reverse is happening and they really are going so ape-shit crazy, that it only leads them to believe that that they have a growing mental superiority.  One thing’s for sure; these chemical roller-coasters have the ability to twist up and whack out a synapse, like eating a parasitic egg-salad-sandwich from the vending machine of an interstellar truck stop bathroom.  The reality is that, even with all of the epiphanies and life lessons that one may obtain during these odysseys, there is really no scientific control for the experimenter/guinea pig and, short of a clone or view into a parallel dimension, no one can ever really know if they would have arrived at those same conclusions without the “aid” of the hallucinogen.  The good part is, since there is no way to make that determination, it doesn’t really matter and there are more detrimental things in the world than examining the differences between arrogance and confidence, exploitation and opportunity, respect and glorification, inspiration and contrivance, hustling and…well, hustling.  Despite the blatant self-aggrandizement implied in his stage name, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann seems to have an incredibly firm grasp on these concepts and plenty of others.  Of all the electric realizations that I had, however, there is one specific principle that truly epitomizes Tillmann’s career for me: “Regardless of how clearly, simply, honestly, or directly you express a pure truth, it doesn’t mean that anyone else will, necessarily, hear, believe, or even understand what you are trying to relate to them.” (more…)

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If you’re a die hard fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then you probably already know about the Dick Towel by now.  If you read our November 6th post about the novelty drying devices, then you also know that the Sunny crew actually manufactured the product and constructed an official site to sell and distribute them.  In that post we mentioned that the towel would have made a wonderful Christmas or Hannukah present, but followed it up by asking, “As far as Kwanza?…..TERRIBLE!  Where is all of the dark meat?!”

Well, it looks like the folks at Dick Towel are all ears when it comes to concerns as dire as those regarding racial sensitivity in the mock phallus industry.  Beyond just adding hats and T-Shirts to their line of Dick Towel related merchandise, we’d like to present you with their latest addition……

…………. “THE BLACK DICK TOWEL”!

Finally!  This should please a lot of people, except for this guy of course [poor bastard].

The really good news is, in celebration of their latest wang cloth, the people at Dicktowel.com have offered to provide us with a couple of FREE Dick Towels to give away.  This means that we will be picking 2 winners (one for each color).

HOW To Enter:

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Back in our Oct. 2007 interview with with Charlie Day, I asked the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star/executive producer about marketing.  More specifically, I inquired about if there had been any show-related merchandising ideas that had been thrown around “Anything along the lines of ‘It’s Always Sunny’ in-soles or bondage gear?“  Now, it looks like the cleverly absurd merchandising possibilities for the show creators are finally beginning to hit their stride.

Last night’s episode of the FX program revolved around the concept of the gang trying to capitalize off of a merchandising convention that was coming to town.  Various product concepts were presented by the crew, including a shotgun that blasts liquor, but in the long run, the only successful idea that garnered any interest from investros was Charlie’s “Kitten Mittens“.  In the real world, however, another one of these ideas has actually been put into production and can be purchased by you through a website specially created for that purpose.  That’s right, DICKTOWEL.com actually exists.

Watch the video:

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By now, you’ve probably seen the sketchy, and now infamous, images above.  The mugshots are of Vince Shlomi (aka: Vince Offer) of ShamWow! infomercial fame and were taking back in Feb. 2009, after an altercation with a prostitute in Miami.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, Shlomi was arrested for slapping the hooker across the chops repeatedly, resulting in fractures and lacerations all over her face.  The blood on his face corresponds with his claim that the woman had bit into his tongue and that he was forced to lay his goon hand down in an attempt to get her to release it.  If you look into Offer’s past, you’ll see a history of other questionable moves, including a terribly misguided and vulgar comedy movie ,as well as three separate, bizarre lawsuits that he tried to file against The Farrelly Bros. , Anna Nicole Smith, and the Church of Scientology.  For the large majority, who were only aware of Shlomi from his ShamWow! and Slapchop infomercials, the arrest was shocking and extremely incriminating.

After the scandal, the airing of both commercials slowed tremendously.  At the end of June, Shlomi’s arch rival and Oxyclean pitchman, Billy Mays died of complications relating to cocaine use and an existing heart condition.  Since, then, I began to see Shlomi’s commercials resurface slowly, but his presence hasn’t ever really been as strong as it was before the release of the mugshots…. until now.

A couple of hours ago, I was relaxing on my couch when I realized that the the Slap Chop information was on television.  I was a little faded and thought that I was imagining it at first, but something was definitely different.  There was a song playing in the commercial that featured a crazy remix of the dialogue, processed through an auto-tuner and mixed over a techno beat. (more…)

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