10 things that just happened in comedy

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day and spent it remembering to, in the words of Harry Styles, “respect your mah-ther!” I spent it sleeping, which I can not recommend more highly.

Let’s begin.

This post is about: recent comedy news for both consumption (stand-up), and commerce — “cool tweets!” aka branded humor, which is what Free Puppies Creative peddles in — Tucker Carlson (spoof) catchphrases are my new favorite thing, Kevin Hart is in every single thing on Netflix, and Chelsea’s hair looks great.

Some Comedy News, mostly from the Netflix is a Joke Festival

• Jeremy Culhane had a major breakout moment on Weekend Update last Saturday. His Tucker Carlson was so freaking funny, I can’t stop saying, “That’s the rule. That’s the goal now.” It helped that I listened to the recent Daily interview of Carlson, because, and I know, this will shock you, but I am not that familiar with things he says and does other than tirelessly campaign to resurrect the bow tie. His Met Gala review was just so, so good. This was this impression’s second appearance, and I’m 100% sure it will return. That’s the goal now.

• Atsuko Okatsuka is making a Netflix special. It’s Atsuko’s third special, and first for the big boy streamer. Nothing I can say about it captures the energy of her announcement and swelling fandom as well as this clip.

• Kevin Hart got a little sus after layoffs at his media company. Changed his number? Laid off a quarter of the workforce? Don’t love that. Hartbeat’s financial struggles reportedly began after an expansion frenzy in which he moved them into the 40,000 square foot office space that used to belong to Harpo. All of this is to say, everyone, even Kevin Hart, wants to be Oprah. Thoughts and prayers to all those affected by the layoffs. I mean this quite earnestly: that was me two years ago, and it still smarts.

• Speaking of Kevin Hart, he was roasted live on Netflix last night. Shane Gillis took over hosting duties this time, and even though the main target of the night was obviously Kevin, all the “old” jokes about Chelsea Handler reminded me of the Comedy Central Roasts of yesteryear when all the “she’s so old, her *** is made of *** and wood from Noah’s Arc” zingers were about Sarah Silverman. It would be great if someday we get to a place where we can roast female comics about something other than their looks. Chelsea took it all like a champ and got Kill Tony pretty good.

If you still need more roast jokes, and who doesn’t, Madison Sinclair posted a good round-up from the Variety review on Threads. The E! joke took me a second, because it’s a little Gen-X coded, which you don’t see so much anymore, but then I laughed out loud, like any Millennial-coded comedy writer, lol.

• **More Kevin Hart? OK, fine! He’s in a Hangover-type movie with Marcello Hernandez. If this is what it takes to get a Marcello Hernandez movie, so be it.

• Last Kevin Hart post, I swear! Ron Taylor won the first season of Funny AF, which is basically Last Comic Standing branded more like American Idol and hosted by…you guessed it! Kevin Hart. How did his company bleed money when he’s working this much? Truly, he must be making Michael Jackson-sized purchases. Vulture wrote a nice piece on the winner.

• At long last, Zach Galifianakis opens up about the detail that almost derailed his 2016 Hilary Clinton interview. Have I been up late wrestling with what the “hard no’s” were from Hilary’s team in conversations with the “Between Two Ferns” booker a decade ago? Nope. But I do like his response.

• The Times did a lot of thinking on the impact of the end of “The Late Show”. As a general rule, I find it boring when people try to intellectualize comedy to the point that it takes the fun out of it. I mean, it’s comedy, after all. It’s not that serious! And I really find it boring when people write exhausting articles about the “Late Night Wars" of the 00’s. But I love Colbert and his Good Dad Energy, so sure, give it a read.

• Dan Perlman’s Flatbush Misdemeanors is now streaming on Punchup Live. Love Dan and love that now more people can watch his show. I am guilty of absolutely refusing to pay for Showtime because, honestly, ENOUGH WITH ALL THE APPS. Didn’t realize his mom is played by Maria Bamford! That’s so cool.

• SNL UK’s freshman season is almost done. It has recently been renewed, though personally, I am still on the fence. Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham hosted the latest episode, and watching the promo, my thoughts were 1) this feels long, and 2) this feels silly. And yet, it is not for me, it is for the British people, who do tend to enjoy the long and silly. I may need to watch an actual episode to decide for sure.