Briefly, we want to remind you of a few weeks back when we discussed the possible successor to Jimmy Fallon as host of Late Night. The rumor at the time – and still presumed favorite – is that Seth Meyers will take over in Studio 6B. However, we voiced our opposition to that plan, with no disrespect to the vastly talented and incredibly charming Meyers. Instead, we felt it best if the show went a different direction. Specifically, West, to Los Angeles, where it could mine some of that coast’s best and underutilized talent. Well, yesterday Comedy Central basically announced plans to do just that, with the news surfacing that they’ve tapped Chris Hardwick to host a late night talk show following The Colbert Report, the net’s first real foray into traditional late night programming. With Hardwick, the Nerdist impresario, you have that young, cutting edge, hip LA talent that we talked about, the Nerdist podcast network including comedians like Kurt Braunholer, Pete Holmes and TJ Miller. Possibly even more important than gaining access to the Nerdist family, the show will be executive produced by Reno 911 creators and The State alums Tom Lennon and Ben Garant, with additional involvement from the folks at Funny or Die. So, essentially, this show links up most of Los Angeles’ best, funniest, talent all in one place. What a deep pool of talent to pool from. Too bad NBC couldn’t think of this first.
Tag Archives: The State
Eight (Hundred) is Great
We’ve gone ahead and ignored all your pleas for us to cease and desist and have reached yet another milestone on this blog: 800 posts (and counting). We kind of crawled our way from 700, with the latter half of 2012 and the early part of 2013 being monopolized by professional obligations, but we’re still extremely proud of hitting this mark. More importantly, we’re reenergized, emboldened to continue (sorry, everyone!), remaining your number one source for Survivor Celebrity Look-Alikes, Gallagher commentary, general nonsense and the occasional insight. As we march forward towards 900 (and god willing or god forbid, depending your stance, 1000), we hope you stick with us, even if you only end up here because you were searching for a State video that has been blocked. As a thank you (AND an apology) here’s a video State-member David Wain made for his wife’s birthday:
Filed under Count Bleh, Gratuitous Search Term Bait, The State
‘Survivor: Caramoan’ – Hope Floats (But Heavy Wooden Chests Don’t)
Last week’s episode of Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites 2 Legit 2 Quit began with another temper tantrum from Brandon upon returning from Tribal Council. This week, not to be outdone, Brandon’s counterpart on the Fans side, Shamar, sounded off loudly after the vote. We talked in our last post about our uneasiness concerning these two bellicose, volatile players, that their unhinged – and often selfish – behavior would unfairly take center stage, and this happened once again in the latest episode, right off the bat. Here’s how it sounded at Goata camp.
Filed under Analysis, Century 21 Reality, Crucial Taunt, Lists, Saved by the Bell, The State, Tribal Council
Russell Brand on ‘SNL’: Very British
Well, we had little hope that the SNL would rebound from its disillusioning Dana Carvey episode last week. For some reason, lately we’ve been giving the show the reverse of the benefit of the doubt, the doubt of the benefit if you will. And when we casually started the episode late Saturday night, it seemed that our prognostications would be proven valid, that we were in for another ho-hum effort with a perfectly fine but completely ordinary host. But, while Russell Brand would prove to possibly be the weakest part of the show, the episode turned around on the basis of two sketches, two pieces that will no doubt sit atop our best of the season list.
Coming up: What sketch did we watch four times? And we hand out the season MVP award early.
Filed under Across the pond, Analysis, Good Humor, Saturday Night Live, The State
Gratuitous Search Term Bait of the Day: Pants, Eh?
We really don’t know why people have been searching for “50% off first pair of bonobos jan 2011,” but evidently they have been, and we’re a little embarrassed that it’s brought them to this blog. But instead of dignifying bonobos any further, we’re going to offer up a Friday bonanza, three pants related sketches starring Michael Ian Black, who seems to have some sort of predisposition for slacks and sweats humor.
To start, “Pants,” perhaps the first great sketch from The State:
Vodpod videos no longer available.And two more pants-centric sketches from Michael and Michael Have Issues:
Vodpod videos no longer available. Vodpod videos no longer available.This reminds us, we really should get a pair of sweatpants with pockets. So useful.
Filed under Gratuitous Search Term Bait, The State
Gratuitous Search Term Bait of the Day: Dental Hygiene
This was our first tough one: “toothbrush the state video”
Unfortunately, we’ve been thwarted in our efforts in the past to upload this State sketch to the webs. And even if we wanted to try it again, we don’t currently have our QuickTime copy of that sketch at our disposal (snowed in!). So, instead, we’re going to do three things:
1. A still from the sketch! (REMEMBER, this is just a screenshot)
2. A link to our fantastically popular (by our standards) list of the Top Ten The State Sketches.
3. Another State sketch in lieu of “Toothbrush.” To keep the festive mood going through New Years, we’ve decided on “Chip’s Party.” Enjoy!
Vodpod videos no longer available.And this is not an excuse or a substitute, but just a few morsels to tide you over. Somehow, Toothbrush will come back to us.
Muppet Monday: Rashida Jones May Join ‘Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made’, Moving Us Closer To A State-Muppet Movie Directed By Judd Apatow
In things-that-I-love-meeting-other-things-that-I-love news, reports indicate that Rashida Jones is close to joining Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s forthcoming Muppet motion picture, The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made (in addition, the adorable Amy Adams and the cute Chris Cooper are also in talks to come on board). Now that Jones appears to be in, we can only assume that Paul Rudd will not be far behind. And when you have Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones there’s a pretty good chance that you’re eventually going to see Judd Apatow and at least one member of The State. Rudd, we all know, is one of the key faces of Apatowian comedy, as well as frequent a collaborator with State members David Wain and Ken Marino (see: Role Models, Diggers). Jones, in addition to appearing in the Apatow-esque I Love You Man with Segel and Rudd (plus State member Tom Lennon), had a small role in Apatow’s masterwork Freaks and Geeks, and has shown up in State related productions Stella, The Ten and Wainy Days. So from there it’s only a matter of time before Jones, Rudd, Segel, Apatow, The State and the Muppets all team up. We already know that The State and the Muppets have a history together:
Vodpod videos no longer available.One complaint: Sources say that Jones would portray an ABC exec in the movie. Between her roles on The Office and The Social Network, we think we’ve seen enough of her in business attire. No more blazers!
For further information, please consult the Judd Apatow Chart
via Vulture
The State Continues Its March Towards Dominating All Forms Of Media, Just 14 Years Later
From 1993 – 1995 The State was the premiere sketch comedy show on MTV, if not of all of cable. In the fall of ’95 they crossed over to network television into the pantheon of classic variety shows with the well received if little-seen one-off “The State’s 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special.” They then followed up their assault on television with the release of their somewhat legendary, thoroughly inaccurate and mildly successful travel guide State by State with The State.
And then, like that, they were gone.
Sure, members of the troupe would soon pop up in things like Ed, Men Behaving Badly, and Game Boy commercials. And then, of course, they all basically found various degrees of success with other efforts, such as Stella, Reno 911, Party Down, and, in the case of Joe Lo Truglio, playing the creepy guy in Judd Apatowian films, and now they have wallets made out of money. But, with the exception of a somewhat recent appearance at Sketchfest, there have been no projects featuring the whole team, just our grainy VHS tapes, our oft-removed YouTube clips, our creased paperbacks, and, after what seemed like an interminable wait, our glorious DVDs to sate our appetetite. But, even with the DVDs, and their extensive special features and informative commentaries, there remained a void, a void created by a long-rumored, never been heard State comedy album.
Well, that myth is now a reality. Fourteen years later Comedy for Gracious Living will finally see the light of day.
Sketch comedy, variety shows, travel literature and now, after many years, The State officially enters the hallowed ground of comedy albums. What’s next? Who knows? But if I were you, Broadway, I’d watch out.
To celebrate, let’s go to the zoo and watch the monkeys do it.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Filed under Freak Out Control, Good Humor, The State
Jumped The Snark 