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
Bassprov's Joe Bill in Toronto, Feb. 5. Photo by Sharilyn Johnson
Joe Bill and Mark Sutton returned to Toronto to bring this town some much-needed bass-fishin’ action in the middle of winter.
Bassprov is like the Seinfeld of longform improv. It’s a show about nothing. Two men sitting in a boat, trying to catch some fish.
But like real-life recreational fishermen, it’s really not about the fish at all. It’s about the conversation: relationships, sex addition, the genetic superiority of Heidi Klum and Seal, the work of Alanis Morrisette, and justification for lowering the toilet seat — interspersed with liberal use of the word “duplicity”. And despite what that description indicates, it somehow all makes total sense.
This was my 4th time seeing Bassprov, and my favourite so far. (I think there’s something about the pace of NYC’s Del Close Marathon that keeps me from getting fully engaged with an all-talk-no-action performance.)
Sutton and Bill are teaching a 2-day improv workshop through the Impatient Theatre Co. all weekend, and performing their second Bassprov show Saturday night at Comedy Bar. Tickets are $10 at the door only.
View more photos of Friday’s show.
(Before you think it, I just want to point out that it’s still Friday somewhere.)
Sarah Silverman hasn’t aged a bit since appearing on Evening at the Improv in 1992 (this is even before her too-brief time on SNL). But here’s something to make you feel old: babies born during this set are heading to college in the fall.
A lot of these old A&E standup shows come back to haunt the participants, and while it’s obviously not as good as anything Sarah produces today, I think she can probably live with this set without cringing.
I’ve had to get my car fixed a ton of times over the years. Used to have an ‘89 Ford Probe that made monthly visits to the garage, and even my ‘05 Sunfire had to go in for an occasional check-up. But do you know how many times my car was worked on by a woman? NEVER. Not once. That’s insane.
I might not know what it’s like working at a garage, but I do know that anything less than 50% representation qualifies as rampant sexism and needs to be fixed.
Some people might argue that it’s mostly guys who take an interest in cars, so fewer women apply for jobs as mechanics — and the gender ratio across the industry reflects that. Hogwash! We can’t think like that if women are to truly be equal.
These body shop boys’ clubs think it’s in their best interest to hire the best person for the job, regardless of their gender, age, race, etc. That ridiculous policy has to stop. Gender balance in a workplace is MUCH more important than aiming for high-quality work.
I might know nothing about the business, but as a journalist with a vagina, I’ve decided it’s my duty to make a gigantic effing deal whenever I hear about a woman getting hired as a mechanic. And every time it happens, I’m going to point out what a sexist industry it still is. It might overshadow the new hire’s accomplishments, but whatevs — they’ll thank me later when they realize it’s for the betterment of womankind.
In completely unrelated news, congratulations to Jill Goodwin for being promoted to the writing staff of the Late Show with David Letterman — something that doesn’t happen to anyone without a lot of hard work and a damn good packet.
(Don’t miss my next commentary: Why do so many Japanese people work at sushi restaurants? That’s, like, totally racist and stuff.)
Monday, February 1
Conan O’Brien: Joel McHale (repeat)
The View: Mario Cantone
Tuesday, February 2
Conan O’Brien: Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan (repeat)
Lopez Tonight: Russell Peters
Wednesday, February 3
David Letterman: Sarah Silverman
Jay Leno: Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Kimmel: Demetri Martin
Bonnie Hunt: George Wallace
Thursday, February 4
Jay Leno: Wanda Sykes
Conan O’Brien: Adam Sandler (repeat)
Craig Ferguson: Chris Kattan
Jimmy Fallon: Aubrey Plaza
The View: Sarah Silverman
Friday, February 5
Jay Leno: Bill Maher
Jimmy Fallon: Sean Patton
Bonnie Hunt: Lily Tomlin
Wow, how quickly the week goes when you’re out drinking every night and sleeping ’til noon. Sorry, folks (for what it’s worth, my 5:30am alarms commence Monday). Here’s an uninspired Film Vault Friday offering on my part, which is to say it’s Conan-related (nope, I’m not over it yet).
Watching Colbert’s version of the State of the Union Address made me realize how painful it is that Conan is gone before getting to do a Stage of the Show Address as host of the Tonight Show — and how amazing it would’ve been if all this NBC fallout had taken place THIS week instead. The State of the Show is not so good.
Here’s the 2003 State of the Show address, thanks to Youtube user MsHandsanitizer (seriously).
(BTW, am I the only comedy nerd out there who frequently refers to the President’s speech as State of the Industry? Damn you, Kindler.)
Monday, January 25
Jimmy Kimmel: Joan Rivers (repeat)
Craig Ferguson: Carl Reiner
Jimmy Fallon: Ana Gasteyer (repeat)
Lopez Tonight: Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong
Regis and Kelly: Tracey Ullman
Ellen DeGeneres: Valerie Bertinelli, Zachary Levi
Tuesday, January 26
Jimmy Fallon: John Oliver (repeat)
Lopez Tonight: Jamie Kennedy
Regis and Kelly: Martin Short
Ellen DeGeneres: Will Arnett
Wednesday, January 27
David Letterman: Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Sudeikis (repeat)
Jimmy Kimmel: Kate Micucci
Craig Ferguson: Eddie Izzard
Jimmy Fallon: Lenny Clarke (repeat)
Thursday, January 28
Jimmy Kimmel: Will Arnett
Craig Ferguson: Rosie O’Donnell
Carson Daly: Chris Kattan (repeat)
Friday, January 29
Jay Leno: Howie Mandel, Adam Carolla
Whoa, something looks different around here!
Yep, that’s an almost-completed new design you see before you, which is meant to complement – drumroll please – the new www.third-beat.ca
Due to popular demand, and my own desire to not dump a bunch of Canada-centric content on you guys (2/3 of you are American!), www.third-beat.ca will be used purely for Toronto-related comedy goings-on.
What this means:
-You won’t notice any significant changes to third-beat.com (other than this little design change). It’s never going to be a high-volume blog, and the regular weekly features (talk show listings, Film Vault Friday) will stay here exclusively.
-Items that are purely of interest to Canadians – particularly Torontonians – will be kept to www.third-beat.ca (perfect example being the “Definition of Fake News” post from last week).
-The will be minimal crossover, so those who wish to subscribe to both blogs won’t get bombarded with duplicate posts. I anticipate cross-posting only when reviewing shows in Toronto by performers with a high profile outside of the country (eg: Todd Barry, Paul F. Tompkins, the Toronto Just For Laughs shows).
-If you visit one site via your bookmarks, you’ll soon see an rss feed of the other site’s most recent posts on the right-hand sidebar, so you can stay up to date without any effort.
This is an experiment more than anything, so we’ll see how it goes. Cool? Cool. Feedback and suggestions are welcomed openly.
(In the meantime, there’s still much work to be done on the .com design side of things — some of which is driving me mad. Your patience is much appreciated!)
I’m going to steer away from the Conan stuff today, because I’m sad about it and have nothing left to say (other than how disappointed I am that Colbert played nice with Ebersol in exchange for hopefully-worth-it Olympic access). There’s plenty on Youtube to keep Conan fans happy, and if you’re looking for more in-fighting you can watch the entire film The Late Shift about the Leno / Letterman conflict in the early 90s.
Instead, here’s something completely different. This had been floating around Youtube before, but recently re-upped by user NothingButEddie. It’s a 5-episode talk show hosted by Jon Stewart in 1996, called Where’s Elvis This Week?, featuring Eddie Izzard and a bunch of people I don’t know. This aired only on the BBC, but was filmed in New York. Weird.
NBC has finally filled in the guest list blanks for the balance of (what we assume is) Conan’s final week:
Tuesday: Quentin Tarantino, Paul Bettany, Spoon
Wednesday: Adam Sandler, Joel McHale, Joss Stone
Thursday: Robin Williams, Barry Manilow
Friday: Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell
Not too many surprises here, especially considering Conan’s announcement last night of Sandler, Hanks, and Ferrell. The shift of Manilow to Thursday is no shock, as he’s not an ideal final guest, and cancelling him altogether. Although with comedy nerds making up the bulk of Team Conan, my eyebrow is raised slightly over Robin Williams. He’s a ratings-grabber, though, so we’ll chalk it up to that.