Tell a Vision: The Best Night of TV

What do you think the best night of television is? Monday? Tuesday? Maybe Wednesday? Well, you’d be wrong! The best night of television is hands down Thursday night. No other night of television beats Thursday in quality or quantity of shows. Don’t believe me? Well, then I’ll just have to go through show by show to convince you and by the time this blog entry is done I’ll have proven conclusively that Thursday night is the absolute best night of television.

Community (NBC) – (8:00 pm Thurs.): This is a new show, but it is quickly becoming a laugh riot. It centers on an eccentric, eclectic study group at Greendale Community College. My cool readers will know Ken Jeong from Pineapple Express and the Hangover and my really cool readers will know Chevy Chase from Saturday Night Live. However the real breakout star here is Danny Pudi as the socially inept pop-culture aficionado Abed Nadir. Abed is obsessed with pop-culture even more than I am. This obsession allows for the show to be self-referential even having Abed point out the show’s clichés and breaking the forth wall. Is Abed just crazy or does he really know that he’s in a TV show? Either way, he is in a TV show and it is hysterical.

Parks and Recreation (NBC) – (8:30 pm Thurs.): Parks and Rec is from the creators of the American Office so you know it’s good. The show centers around the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana and the members of its staff. It’s a very clever and incredibly accurate portrayal of municipal government. The show filmed in a mockumentary style, meaning the characters a treated like “real people” who are aware of the cameras and know they’re being filmed. In fact, many of the shows best jokes come from cut-aways to characters talking directly into camera like you would see in any one of today’s reality shows. The show has a surprising number of big name celebrities for a television series including Aubrey Plaza (Funny People), Rashida Jones (I Love You, Man) and Aziz Ansari (Funny People and I Love You, Man). If that’s not enough to convince you, the show stars former Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchorwoman Amy Poehler and she is always good for a laugh.

The Office (NBC) – (9:00 pm Thurs.): This show IS the American Office so you know it’s good. If you have not yet scene the Office I recommend you rent the DVDs because the show is on its sixth season and there are so many hilarious episodes that would a shame for you to miss. So much has happened in the Scranton branch of the fictional company Dunder Mifflin since the show started, from the growing relationship between Jim and Pam to the antics of bumbling characters like Michael and Dwight to just showing us how ridiculous office politics are. This mockumentary style show based on the British show of the same name stars Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin). This is one of the funniest shows on television and you do not want to miss it.

30 Rock (NBC) – (9:30 pm Thurs.): 30 Rock is the most critically acclaimed television series of our time. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for every year it has been on TV so far. Between being produced by Lorne Michaels, starring famous Saturday Night Live hosts and cast-members like Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin, cameos by SNL alums and Creator/Star Tina Fey this is the closest you can get to SNL in primetime. The show takes place behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show that is filmed at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York (sounds like another sketch comedy show, doesn’t it). However the lives of the cast and crew are far more amusing than the show. Luckily their lives are what we get to watch on this outstanding program.

Important Things with Demetri Martin (The Comedy Network) – (10:00 pm Thurs.): If you haven’t heard of Demetri Martin you should go look up some of his stand up material. He is what we here at the Orange Rhyming Hour call a STAND-UP 2 WATCH (watch, watch). He possesses incredible wit and a hilarious dead pan. He uses ridiculous observations and wonderful wordplay to whip the audience into a frenzy. Every episode focuses on a different “important thing” (i.e. Safety, Coolness) and involves sketches, animations, songs and of course stand up that all relate back to the topic. Demetri is an incredible clever mind and remarkable wit. This show is worth watching this show just to watch his intelligent stand up and quick-witted one-liners.

There you go. Thursday is THE night for television. What other night has two and a half solid hours of quality programming? So next Thursday you better not be out with the kids or going to a party, you better be sitting in front of the TV and watching these shows which have be conclusively proven to be the best!

Moving Motion Pictures: My Most Anticipated of Summer 2010

It is officially Summer Movie Season! So I thought I’d treat you folks to the movies I am most looking forward to this summer. These films that I’m dying to see. It’s a countdown y’all! We’ll be starting at 6 and working our way to the movie I most want to see this summer. So, without further ado, let’s kick this into business!



5. Inception – (July 16th 2010): After Memento there was no question that Christopher Nolan was both a great writer and director, but with The Dark Knight he achieved the impossible. He got me, a Marvel Comics fan, to enjoy a DC Comics film. So, I was very excited when I heard about this film starring Leonardo DiCaprio which, according to the press release, is set “in a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion”. Both Nolan and DiCaprio do great with this psychological stuff and I love it. Now, add to this equation Ellen Page the star of Juno (one of my absolute favorite films of all time) and this film is starting to look pretty dang good.



5. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – (August 13th 2010): The poster claims that this will be “an epic of epic epicness” and the trailer looks it. It appears to be stylized film that is set-up like a comic book (with POW! and ZAP! appearing by peoples fists) or an old-school video game (with VS. Screens and K.O.’s). Luckily stylized is what British director Edgar Wright does best. I enjoy Edgar Wright’s work (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) and am curious to see how he will do without the presence of his fellow Brits and constant collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (much like I’m curious to see those two star in Paul, an upcoming non-Wright directed film). Instead he will be working with some talented young North Americans like Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad) and Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air). Anyway you slice it, this film looks … epic.




4. Kick-Ass – (April 16th 2010): Now, I’ve already scene this movie, but I ranked it forth because hat's where I would have ranked it if I hadn’t. This movie originally interested me because of the involvement of Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Clark Duke and because it was based on a comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. (the best comic book writer and illustrator currently in the biz respectively). However, any expectations I had for the movie were not only exceeded, but were shot through the head killing two other expectations. This movie was so flippin' awesome! Kick-Ass seemed to be almost tailor-made for my movie tastes. It has a relatable protagonist (incredibly relatable for me as a teenager), a compelling story, laugh-out-load comedy and mind-blowing fight scenes. Most of those great fight scenes are thanks to eleven-year-old Chloe Moretz who plays the foul-mouthed assassin Hit-Girl and was the highlight of the film. I predict that this young lady has terrific acting career ahead of her, a career that I will be closely following. You don’t know “awesome” until you’ve seen a little girl take down about seventeen armed gangsters in a hallway. Kick-Ass is one movie that truly lives up to it’s name.



3. Toy Story 3 – (June 18th 2010): Who doesn’t like Pixar movies? Seriously, who? Tell me! I want to kick their face in! Pixar has as close to a spotless record as you can get in this business (completely spotless if you don’t count 2006’s Cars). There is not a single demographic that Pixar movies do not appeal to. You could watch a Pixar film with any one of your friends or any member of your family and have a great time. Sure, they’re cartoons, but they usually have more depth and more heart than most of the other movies released that year combined. It’s been 11 years since the last Toy Story feature film and a lot has changed (just compare the quality of animation). John Lasseter is now Principal Creative Advisor for Disney and will not be directing this 3D instalment of the franchize. Instead he will be a producer and Lee Unkrich will direct, but Toy Story is a classic. These are characters we all know and love. The audience already has an emotional attachment to Buzz and Woody and they’re ready to love this movie. The only question is: "Can lightening strike thrice?" With Pixar? I’m thinking: "Yes!" In fact, I bet this movie will win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Just a wild guess!



2. Iron Man 2 – (May 7th 2010): I was a huge Iron Man fan before the first movie came out. Back in the days when you would tell someone that Iron Man was your favorite superhero and they would reply “Who?” I was nervous and excited for Iron Man's first leap to the big screen and I was not disappointed. The film had everything a fan could have wanted: a story that stayed true to the source material, little references that only the fans would catch and perfect casting of the lead. Robert Downey Jr. had Tony Stark’s character down to a tee and that is what really made the film work for me. So, I’m pumped to revisit this wonderful movie universe. With additions such as Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Don Cheadle as War Machine and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash it’s sure to be a thrill ride. I’m stoked for the all AC/DC soundtrack (consult the chart for more info), but no matter what the reason I most want to see this film is to see Downey Jr. once again bring life to my hero Tony Stark.



1. MacGruber – (May 21st 2010): Since 2007 the critically-acclaimed sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live has been airing three-part, prerecorded MacGyver parodies entitled MacGruber starring Will Forte and funniest woman alive Kristen Wiig. These sketches have become a staple of the show and always end with the title character exploding, but when member of The Lonely Island and writer of the original sketches Jorma Taccone was approached about writing and directing a feature film based on the sketch he saw potential. The film looks hilarious and is sure to have appearances from various SNL alums, but the surprise move was casting Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe along with many other dramatic actors in the supporting roles. The film is an homage to 1980’s action movies, but it’s not a spoof. By casting all these “serious” actors it makes Will and Kristen’s characters even more ridiculous by comparison. The other surprise here is that the film is rated R. The previous SNL films have aimed for a PG-13 in order to keep most of their TV audience, but apparently Taccone has pulled no punches claiming that film boarders on an NC-17. Jorma Taccone is one of my biggest comedy influences and idols. So, I’ll see anything that he does, but this film has the potential to be the next Hot Rod and that is one big reason to get excited about *BOOM* MACGRUBER!

So, with all these fantastic looking motion pictures coming out, it looks like it will be good (albeit expensive) summer.

Stand-Ups 2 Watch: Bo Burnham

A sixteen-year-old kid in his bedroom singing about homophobia. A fairly average sight, at least by YouTube standards, right? But, what if I told you that kid now has a very successful stand-up career because of that video? Oh, you’d believe that too? Well, I was just asking! Gosh!

Bo Burnham is one of the smartest, most talented and most clever performers out there right now and he is only two years older than I am. He first made a name for himself on the internet when he was a year younger than me! I, like most people, found Burnham on the internet. He immediately found his way into my heart because he preformed musical comedy (consult the chart for more info). But, I soon realized that Bo was not a “musical comic”. He was a true stand-up who just happens to sing songs. His albums are live, while Weird Al’s are studio albums. No offence to the great Weird Al Yankovic, but this is the difference between a “musical comic” and a comedian who plays music. Burnham is the latter.

It has been fun to watch Bo Burnham’s act evolve over the few years that he’s been a comic. His act is constantly evolving mainly to keep Burnham from getting bored. He’s moving away from silly songs about Helen Keller and switching them out for thousand-joke-a-minute raps that need to be listened to three or four times to catch every joke and play on words. The keyboard and guitar are what made him famous, but more and more he is moving away from them. Sure, he still writes new musical material, but his routine is becoming much more stand-up alternating with songs than simply song after song. Bo does what he finds funny, even if Salvador Dali jokes and "Sonnet 155 or If Shakespeare Had Written a Porn" are over his target audience’s heads. As far as Bo is concerned if he doesn’t find it funny then there’s no point in performing it. He believes firmly in staying true to who he wants to be as a performer.

Burnham also strongly believes, as I do, that nothing should be off-limits in comedy. In fact he is one of the few comics out there in this age of political correctness who truly believes that nothing is sacred. If you can’t make fun of everything then you can make fun of nothing and as long as it’s more funny than it is offensive it’s fair game. That being said, if any of my readers are easily offended they might want to use discretion when watching any of the clips posted in this blog entry. Like this one:



Bo Burnham’s stage persona is that of a dick. He hates the audience, calling them names and shooting them dirty looks when they laugh at certain jokes or, worse yet, when they sing along to a song. “If you know the words please feel free to shut the f*** up!” The only person Burnham hates more than the audience is himself. He reveals embarrassing “facts” about himself onstage and obviously resents himself for going into showbiz. This was never more apparent than in is relatively new song “Art is Dead” in which he calls himself (and everyone else in entertainment) a self-obsessed, attention-starved child who never grew up and is only in it for the money. “Art is dead. So people think you're funny? How do we get those people’s money?” A great example of Burnham mocking both the audience and himself was when he preformed at YouTube Live where he sang a song entitled “Welcome to YouTube” which made fun of YouTube Celebrities such as himself and the majority of the people there. Let’s watch, shall we:



Bo Burnham has only been at the stand-up game for 2 years, but has already found a voice for himself. With razor-sharp wit and some of the cleverest word-play I’ve ever heard, young Burnham is a comedic force to be reckoned with. At the age of nineteen he already has an EP, a live comedy album and a comedy central special with another album and special on the way. He has even been drafted by Judd Apatow (the current king of comedy who has jumpstarted many young comedian’s careers, notably Seth Rogen) to write and possibly star in High School Musical parody film. For all these reasons and more Bo Burnham in a STAND-UP 2 WATCH (watch, watch)!

The Sketch of a Troupe: Monty Python vs. Kids in the Hall

When I ask you to think of a sketch comedy troupe (not a show like SCTV or SNL but an actual troupe) one of two names probably come up: Monty Python and the Kids in the Hall. You probably came up with these names because they were in the title of this blog post, but nonetheless these are two of the best, most successful and most influential names in sketch comedy.

In 1969 the British airwaves were taken over by some blokes by the names of Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese and Michael Palin with a show called “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Similarly, in 1989, some hosers called Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch and Scott Thompson premiered their show “The Kids in the Hall”. Both shows where huge successes and got each troupe a cult following. Monty Python deconstructed and recreated the sketch-comedy genre; they completely changed comedy and what we find funny forever. The Pythons have been compared to The Beatles because of the revolutionary nature of their sketches and their format. If Monty Python were the first to do the sketch series properly then the Kids were the last to do so. The Kids in Hall’s show, though not as influential, was still quite ground-breaking. The Kids’ sketches had endings and did not follow the Pythons’ stream-of-consciousness style, but they proved to be equally as absurd as the Flying Circus sketches.

Due to both their series’ successes the Kids and the Pythons made their way into the feature film business. Monty Pythons first feature length film, containing all new material, was entitled “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” was a critical and commercial triumph. The film was such an accomplishment that the Pythons were able to produce two more: “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the Kids’ film “Brain Candy”, the film was a complete disaster with a sloppy script and terrible chemistry between the Kids some of whom refused to even speak with each other when the camera was off.

You can actually even compare members of the two troupes fairly well. Bruce McCulloch is much like the Pythons’ Terry Jones, they are both equally known for their performances on screen and their direction behind the camera. Dave Foley is definitely the most well-known and independently successful of the Kids in the Hall much like John Cleese of the Pythons. This makes News Radio Dave Foleys’s Fawlty Towers. The similarities become even eerier than this. Both troupes’ homosexual members (Graham Chapman and Scott Thompson) were the only members of their respective troupes to be diagnosed with cancer. Due to Chapman’s death of cancer in 1989 Monty Python will not agree to a reunion (other than documentaries and interviews). Scott Thompson however overcame cancer and the Kids in the Hall released the 8-part mini-series in 2010 called “Death Comes to Town” as well as doing a series of live tours containing almost completely new material.

Monty Python and the Kids in the Hall, both such amazing comedic forces. So many of today's comedians have been inspired, influenced and shaped by these incredible groups of men. So I will leave you with a sketch from each troupe just to give you a taste of true brilliance.

Monty Python:



VS.

Kids in the Hall:

Moving Motion Pictures: The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

2009 was a great year for cinema. We saw one of the most accurate representations of the Iraq war and one of the least accurate representations of World War II. We were taken to an alien world and we saw aliens come to our world. We were told the story of a man who spent too much of his time in the air and the story of a man who spent too much of his time at home and the story of a man whose home was IN the air. That’s right, it’s Academy Awards season once more. So get strapped into your Oscar-chairs and prepare for my hilarious take on The 82nd Annual Academy Awards!

I’m just kidding, I have no hilarious take. But, you know who probably does? Steve Martin. I was thrilled to hear that he was hosting this year. I love seeing Steve in hosting gigs because it’s the closest we’ll ever get seeing him doing stand-up, his true calling, again (quick book recommendation: Born Standing Up. Check it out!). I was also happy to hear that a Mr. Alec Baldwin was coming along for the ride. I’m interested to see how that co-host dynamic plays out. Plus, Alec and Steve are the two most frequent hosts on Saturday Night Live and anyone who managed to read my most recent, incredibly long post (god bless you) knows how much I love that program.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, the powers that be have decided that there will be ten Best Picture nominees this year instead of the usual five. No doubt they did this to try to run my blog, but I have still managed to see all ten of the nominees. I normally can’t manage watching five! My prediction is that The Hurt Locker will win Best Picture and I won’t mind that. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t really mind if any of these films won Best Picture, but here’s a list the ones I like the best starting with my favorite:

1. Up in the Air
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Up
4. A Serious Man
5. The Hurt Locker
6. An Education
7. District 9
8. Avatar
9. The Blind Side
10. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

This year, there were two screenplays that were truly, masterfully written, two screenplays that stood above the rest, two screenplays that deserve the title “Best”. Luckily both these screenplays are nominated in separate categories. The scripts that I’m referring to are Inglourious Basterds nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Up in the Air nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. So, the Academy has no right to snub either of Quentin Tarantino or Jason Reitman for these awards (Original and Adapted respectively). Both these scripts were so well written, displaying such sharp and such real dialogue. I’ve always said that Tarantino is great director, but a better writer. In fact, both Tarantino and Reitman are writer-directors. I suppose that being a director can be a huge advantage to your writing and vise versa. If you’re a director writing a screenplay you’ll have a better idea of how it will play on the screen.

The Best Director category is an interesting one because if the Academy had gone with the usual five nominees for Best Picture, these five would be the ones nominated (Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air). I would be very surprised if something other than these five films won Best Picture. As for who’s winning Best Director, it’s tough to say. Obviously I would be happy if Reitman or Tarantino won. However, I would actually like to see Kathryn Bigelow win for The Hurt Locker. She is one of only a handful of women to be nominated in this category. Count ‘em, four! And we really need one of these women to win, but it’s not just that, she actually deserves this award. She’s managed to capture the messiness and relentlessness of war. She’s made some bold and extraordinary choices with her direction and she is obviously what made that film so good.

And now for the category that I’ve all been waiting for. That’s right, it’s the most important award of the night: Best Supporting Actor. I’m not entirely sure way this is always my favorite category, but it always seems to be the one I care the most about. I’ve always been fascinated in the art of acting and I feel that supporting roles are the most interesting and the most challenging. Look back at the last two years’ winners: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. They gave us arguably the greatest performances of their respective years. Supporting actors are not given as much screen time as the leads, but they are expected to be able to hold there own against the star and be as compelling as them. Often times, supporting roles are harder because are not the centre of the film; they don’t have to ground the film and therefore they can be far more complicated and unique.

No actor has proven my point more, this year, than Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Waltz oozes this kind of evil charm that steels every scene he’s in. And it takes a lot to out-charisma Brad Pitt! A while ago, I mentioned Tarantino’s incredible still for writing dialogue and one of Christoph’s major triumphs in this film was his spot-on delivery of that dialogue. The earliest and most compelling scene in Inglourious Basterds is a scene in which Colonel Landa is interrogating a man whom he believes to be hiding Jews. This scene is basically a Waltz monologue and is one of the most suspenseful and engaging scenes in the film. Hans Landa is arguably the most complex character in the movie and he has lines in over three languages. Tarantino almost abandoned the project because he couldn’t find anyone to play this character, possibly the greatest character he has ever written. So, if Waltz doesn’t win the Oscar I might cry.

Well, there you have it! My hilarious take on the Oscars, funny right? Anyway, I hope you all tune in tonight and enjoy the ceremonies. And I hope that my next blog entry is a little shorter. But, I’m not making any promises.

The Sketch of a Troupe: The Lonely Island

If you own a computer, and judging from the fact that you are reading a blog you do, then you have been on a little site called YouTube. And if you’ve been on YouTube you have probably watched some video shot on a hand held camera of someobody acting silly. But let’s think back, before Chocolate Rain, before Shoes, before Numa Numa, even before YouTube there was a little group called The Lonely Island.

Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone first met in junior high school and where the first realized that the three of them had an incredible knack for being incredibly silly. It was then that they formed the sketch comedy troupe that would be known as The Lonely Island. Their very first shorts where filmed and posted online in 2001, that’s four years before YouTube! At first their sketches where only viewed by friends and family, but with advent of YouTube in 2005 they exploded to internet stardom. People loved their quirky style and their ridiculous concepts. They had gone viral! The good kind.



The Dudes (as they are sometimes called) went on to a great deal of moderate success after that. Their OC parody, The ‘BU, became the longest running series in the Los Angeles Channel 101 short film festival, Andy appeared on Premium Blend performing stand-up and they were hired by Fox to film a pilot for a sketch comedy show. Awesometown is a fan-favorite, but the pilot was ultimately rejected by Fox, MTV and Comedy Central. The Dudes did land some righting gigs, but their real big break came when the three of them where hired to write for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. The host, Jimmy Fallen, was impressed with their wit and charm. He got the three of them an audition with his old boss Lorne Michaels. It was then that they reached a lifelong goal. They had done what all young comedians dream of doing. They did what I am dreaming of doing right now. All three were hired on Saturday Night Live, Andy as a cast-member; Jorma and Akiva as writers.

The SNL gig was incredible for The Lonely Island. They were proud to work in the same halls were so many great funnymen of the past had started, but a lot of their sketches weren’t airing and Andy was not being cast in many. The Dudes realized that they weren’t used to live sketches in front of an audience. They came from the little shorts that they filmed and edited themselves. So, for SNL’s Christmas episode (always one of the most heavily viewed episodes each year) the three of them and filmed something on the streets of New York with fellow cast-member Chris Parnell. That little short made it to air, prefaced with the words “An SNL Digital Short, it was called Lazy Sunday. Twas a gansta rap about sleeping in, eating cupcakes and watching The Chronicles of Narnia. That sketch spread like wildfire across the internet. And just like that Andy Samberg was the new breakout star of Saturday Night Live.

Now I’m really tired of people saying that Saturday Night Live is no longer funny. People have been saying that since Season 2! People have this idea in their heads of what SNL should be. This is an opinion based on what SNL was when they where watching. The beauty of Saturday Night Live is that it’s always changing. New generations of comedians come and go. Different styles emerge. That is why the show has been able to last for 35 years and counting. In fact, last year, the 34th season, was one of the highest rated seasons in the show’s history. The high ratings were, in part, due to the fact that it was an election year, but the whole show couldn’t be Seth Meyers’ clever commentary and Tina Fey’s spot on Sarah Palin impression. Sometimes you just need People Getting Punched Just Before Eating.



The Digital Short was a terrific invention. The Dudes had created the latest thing to look forward to every Saturday night. Some generations stayed up in hopes of seeing the Czech Brothers being wild and crazy, others stayed up to see Wayne and Garth party on, my generation stays up waiting for the screen to go black and “An SNL Digital Short” to appear. The brilliant thing about a Digital Short is that you never know what you’re going to see. It could be the space-epic “Laser Cats”, Natalie Portman performing an unbelievably vulgar rap or simply Andy popping into frame repeatedly. The creation of these shorts insured that The Lonely Island would not become stale. Unlike most recurring sketches, the Digital Shorts were completely different from each other, apart from the fact that Jorma, Akiva or Andy were involved somehow. Digital Shorts are now a staple of the show. The Dudes where even nominated for Emmys for their Justin Timberlake collaborations: Dick in a Box and Motherlover. The first of which won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.



Winning the Emmy was a great achievement because it meant that The Dudes where not only being recognized as comedians, but as musicians. They were officially musical comedians. Those who know me well know that musical comedy is the way to my heart. View this chart:


In 2009 the Lonely Island released an album entitled Incredibad (a reference to their You Tube days) containing never before heard songs along with many of the popular songs from SNL Digital Shorts. The album was a huge success reaching #1 on the iTunes album charts and remaining at #1 on the comedy charts for months. Incredibad was a brilliant mix of songs for the SNL fans (Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box), songs for the YouTube fans (We Like Sportz and Incredibad) and brand new material that anyone could enjoy (Boombox and Like A Boss). The original song, I’m On A Boat, scored The Lonely Island a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration along with T-Pain who was featured on that song. The Dudes were, however, completely snubbed for a Best Comedy Album nomination, a complete insult considering that George Lopez was nominated. But, none the less the album was a success.

Now I hate to be an indie fan, but it really bugs me when I see a couple of guys standing around in football uniforms singing I’m On A Boat. You can tell that these guys didn’t drive out of town to see Hot Rod (The Lonely Island’s film starring Andy and Jorma and directed by Akiva). They had probably never been to www.thelonelyisland.com before the album came out. And I bet you that they don’t even know Jorma and Akiva’s names! I don’t mean that I’m one of those fair-weathered fans who wants The Dudes to remain obscure for the rest of their careers, but whenever you get in on the ground level of something that becomes popular you feel like you’ve been robbed. This was something that used to be yours, you know? And now that it’s gone public it no longer belongs to you, it belongs to everyone and you feel like you have to inform them that you liked that thing first. But, that just makes you look like a jerk. However, you can write in you blog that you liked that thing first to prove that you’re a bigger fan without looking like a jerk … not that that’s what I’m doing.

You Are About To Read The First Post

Welcome to my brand new blog. It is shinny and smells of pine. Let me first introduce myself. My name is Robbie-J and I am your best friend. Don't try to argue with me! My likes include film, television, theatre, stand-up comedy, sketch comedy and anthing funny. I'm a comedy nerd. My dislikes include swaggerjacking, people who keep talking or asking you questions during a movie, people who prononce lightsaber as "lifesaver" and people who don't understand sarcasm. You may ask "What makes Robbie-J qualified to write a blog?" The answer to that is quite simple, my fluffy bunnies. You see, I have a lot of experience on the internets. I had a blog once before (You can check that out right here: http://suckonthatblog.blogspot.com/) and I'm currently on Twitter (Follow Me! http://twitter.com/robertschley). So, don't fear. You are in safe hands. My hands. The hands of a chamipion. I love you.