Conan sidekick Andy Richter was the guest co-host on Live with Regis & Kelly this morning, and he had plenty to say about NBC and Jay Leno. It gets particularly delicious at the 4-minute point.

It’s nice to know that the reality of the situation was communicated to Leno-loving middle America. Though how much of it they actually absorbed – with fancy showbiz terms like “lead-in” – is anyone’s guess.

Monday, March 8
Jimmy Fallon: Chris Parnell

Tuesday, March 9
Jimmy Fallon: Chelsea Handler, Matt Walsh
Regis and Kelly: Chelsea Handler, guest co-host Andy Richter

Wednesday, March 10
Jimmy Kimmel: Tom Papa
Daily Show: Jerry Seinfeld
Bonnie Hunt: Bill Engvall

Thursday, March 11
Jay Leno: Dana Carvey
Regis and Kelly: guest co-host Jerry Seinfeld
Ellen DeGeneres: Ed Helms
Bonnie Hunt: Tracy Morgan (repeat)

Friday, March 12
David Letterman: Jim Gaffigan
Jimmy Fallon: Jason Sudeikis
Carson Daly: Adam Carolla Podcast Team

Film Vault Friday returns! Today, a salute to one of my favorite Comedy Central shows of all time: Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, the comedian roundtable show that aired after the Daily Show. It only aired for about a year, and in my opinion never got the respect it deserved. Here’s part of a best-of episode, one of many that can be found on Youtube.

I purposely chose a Comedy Central video today because of PR rep Tony Fox’s oh-so-genius remarks, wherein he told the Hollywood Reporter that Comedy Central would sue bloggers who use unauthorized clips from their shows.

I’m of course trembling with fear at the risk of losing the $19 in my savings account.

Incidentally, I’ve downloaded many gigabytes worth of full Tough Crowd episodes from a kind soul’s semi-secret website, the url of which I’m more than happy to pass along. To save this person’s bandwidth, just email me at sharilyn {dot} johnson {at} gmail. And don’t thank me, thank Tony Fox, without whom this offer wouldn’t have been extended.

Kiss my embed tags, Comedy Central.

He’s known to viewers as the guy in the audience who always gets shot in the leg, but Tom Purcell is one of the strongest voices behind the character of Stephen Colbert. Today, that voice is a little stronger, as Purcell has been promoted to Executive Producer of the Colbert Report.

Giving Tom the title is a no-brainer. He’s worked his way through the ranks (writer, head writer, supervising producer, co-EP) and he deserves a big “congratulations”.

And that’s a sincere, based-on-personal-experience “congratulations”. I was incredibly fortunate to study under Tom at the PIT in NYC, in the inaugural Writing for the Colbert Report class in early 2008. He taught with great care and sincerity, to a point where we were almost suspicious of this successful guy who inexplicably wanted everyone else to do well too.

He was Head Writer at the time, and I’m still not sure how he didn’t burn out from the total Colbert submersion. He’d work Mon-Fri, teach Saturday, and provide us with feedback on our assignments by email on Sundays (and often beyond). Nuts. When we met up again 6 months later, and in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, I found him predictably scribbling show ideas in his notebook. Dude doesn’t stop.

This is on top of whatever massive undertaking is in the works at that place at any given time — whether it be a book to write, a Christmas special to produce, a Presidency to campaign for, or a warzone to broadcast from. For the aspiring writers who want to know what it takes to move from staff writer to EP in less than 5 years, well… I imagine being able to handle all of that without breaking down and weeping is a big part of it.

There’s something sweet about the ultra-American ideal of working hard and getting ahead coming to fruition at the Colbert Report of all shows, isn’t there?

The folks at the UCB have set the dates — and it’s the earliest they’ve done so in recent memory, much to the appreciation of out-of-towners who need to book days off from our fancy day jobs.

The 12th Annual Del Close Marathon will be held July 30-August 1, 2010

This is particularly great news for Canadian troupes looking to submit, because August 2nd is a civic holiday everywhere (except for Quebec). And if you’ve never done Marathon, trust me when I tell ya you’ll need the day to recover (or take the bus home, depending on your financial situation).

To get your troupe submitted, visit the website for details. You’d also be advised to look over this site’s interview with Artistic Director Anthony King from last year, where he shares some inside info about how troupes are selected (spoiler alert: competition is fierce).

Listen up - DCMXII happens July 30-Aug 1, 2010. Photo by Sharilyn Johnson

New shows are back – yay! Leno is back – hrm.

Monday, March 1
David Letterman: Bill Murray
Jay Leno: Jamie Foxx
Jimmy Fallon: Judah Friedlander
Ellen DeGeneres: David Spade

Tuesday, March 2
Craig Ferguson: Steven Wright
Lopez Tonight: Tracey Ullman

Wednesday, March 3
David Letterman: Jerry Seinfeld
Jay Leno: Chelsea Handler

Thursday, March 4
Craig Ferguson: Garry Shandling
Jimmy Fallon: Zach Galifianakis
Lopez Tonight: Andrew Dice Clay

Friday, March 5
David Letterman: Danny Bhoy
Bonnie Hunt: Nick Kroll

Hey folks! Blogging will continue to be sporradic over the next few weeks while I adjust to my new fulltime writing gig (crazy hours are a brain-killer). Listings will continue to go up because they’re quick and dirty, but Film Vault Friday and other posts are likely to fall victim to my screw-it-I’m-tired mindset. Will get back into the swing of it soon, promise!

Late night is very repeat-heavy this week, but the Daily Show has a rare run of comedians as guests, and keep in mind Colbert’s footage from the Olympics finally starts airing tonight.

Monday, February 22
Jimmy Kimmel: Kate Micucci (R 1/27/10)
Tavis Smiley: Drew Carey
Daily Show: Ricky Gervais

Tuesday, February 23
Jimmy Kimmel: David Spade, Trailer Park Boys
Craig Ferguson: Stephen Fry
Daily Show: Jeff Garlin
Lopez Tonight: Ray Romano (repeat)
The View: Ricky Gervais

Wednesday, February 24
Daily Show: Tracy Morgan
Regis and Kelly: Joan Rivers

Thursday, February 25
Lopez Tonight: Jamie Kennedy (repeat)
Bonnie Hunt: Tracy Morgan

Friday, February 26
(none)

Not much this week! Olympics are a talk-show killer. My pick of the week: Abby Elliot on Letterman, which may provide stories from Dave about when her dad (Chris) was a regular on the show.

Monday, February 15
Jimmy Kimmel: Greg Giraldo (repeat)

Tuesday, February 16
Tavis Smiley: Tracy Morgan

Wednesday, February 17
David Letterman: Abby Elliott
Jimmy Kimmel: Tracy Morgan
Ellen DeGeneres: Tracy Morgan

Thursday, February 18
(none)

Friday, February 19
David Letterman: Tom Papa

If you’re a comedian fortunate enough to make it onto Second City mainstage, you know you’ve arrived at something big. It’s a huge step for a young performer. It may be one of those moments that you realize you better damn well enjoy, because it seems life will be all downhill after that. Chances are, though, you’re wrong.

Want proof that life can exceed even your wildest imagination? Take a look at this clip of Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey in Second City’s production of Paradigm Lost, circa 1997.

Keeping that thought in mind…

Don’t believe, even for a second, that the plain girl in the brown cardigan – relatively successful already – EVER thought she’d see herself on the cover of Vogue.

Amazing where life can take you, isn’t it? Full story and stunning photos from the March issue are up on the Vogue website.

Reminder: This is your final week to go to bed with Conan.

Monday, February 8
Jimmy Fallon: Stephen Colbert
Lopez Tonight: Jamie Foxx

Tuesday, February 9
Craig Ferguson: Donald Glover

Wednesday, February 10
Conan O’Brien: Louis C.K. (repeat)
Bonnie Hunt: Chris Kattan, Tammy Pescatelli

Thursday, February 11
Conan O’Brien: Steve Schirripa (repeat)
Jimmy Kimmel: Greg Giraldo
Craig Ferguson: Don Rickles

Friday, February 12None