Al Franken

The Best TV Writer Panel Ever?

When the invitation went out from the Writers Guild of America, It seemed too good to be true. Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, James L. Books, Steven Bochco, and more, all on the same panel? And yet last night at the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills, to celebrate the organization's 101 Best Written TV Series ... More >>

Is Ok to Spoof the Dead? Comedy Writer Jim Earl's Book Mourning Remembrance Tries It

It is said that one shouldn't speak ill of the dead. No proverb, however, seems to proscribe writing about the dead with a dark, cutting sense of humor and a jaundiced appraisal of their worldly accomplishments. Mourning Remembrance: A Collection of Mocking Obituaries Ripped From the Headlines is t ... More >>

Peter Bart-Bill O'Reilly Gay Marriage Prank Hits Inboxes Today

Someone's trying to punk ex-Variety editor Peter Bart and Fox News bloodhound Bill O'Reilly with a fake email invitation to their pre-gay-wedding coming out parties. LOL? Bart was certainly no force for diversity at L.A.-based showbiz publication Variety, but we never understood him to be a gay bas ... More >>

Finally: Gay Bullying Gets Recognized as a Civil Rights Issue

SNL Stars Whose Careers Have Done a 180

Victoria Jackson's Excellent Tea Party Adventure

Victoria Jackson Joins the Tea Party: Five Saturday Night Live Alums Who Have Taken Career 180s

Flickr/89AKurtNot so funny anymore: former SNLer Victoria Jackson joined the Tea Party because she enjoys Snapple.​ Careers after Saturday Night Live aren't as easy as you think. For those alums who haven't reached Adam Sandler-level box office heights or thrived in sitcom character roles -- ... More >>

Campaign Finance Reports Show Hollywood's New Chief Lobbyist, Former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, is No Stranger to the Movie Industry

Chris Dodd is Hollywood's new man in D.C.​It was big news  when former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd accepted a job as the chief lobbyist and top dog at the Motion Picture Association of America. Most news stories rightfully highlighted the fact that, due to  lobbying laws, Dodd can't w ... More >>

Al Franken Seeks Financial Affirmation In L.A.

Al Fraken's Stuart Smalley character.​Minnesota U.S. Senator and onetime area resident Al Franken will be in town Friday for a fundraiser that will include "dinner, discussion and laughs" with the former comedian as well as fellow Saturday Night Live alums Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon, LAObser ... More >>

What Would Arianna Do: Huffington Post Launches Food Section

Today, in fact about an hour ago, The Huffington Post launched their new food page. You knew this one was coming, right? The Atlantic has a food page, as does Tina Brown's The Daily Beast. And I bet Arianna Huffington makes a mean skordalia. HuffPost Food editor Colin Sterling says that the new se ... More >>

Air America Goes Down; Liberal Talk Radio A Fail

Liberal talk radio network Air America announced Thursday that it will cease programming. The network was launched in 2004 but saw its share of troubles, including bouncing a check to a radio station that aired the network in Los Angeles only two weeks after Air America launched. In 2006 it filed it ... More >>

Film Reviews

Including this week's picks, Jackass Number Two and The Science of Sleep

A Mexican and an Irishman Walk Into a Bar...

Goldberg Flies Air America

Music-biz biggie pilots a new radio hit

O Brother, Where Art Thou Screening?

Letters

Something Wicked

Democrats’ Dementia

The people’s party have met the enemy — themselves

Monkeys and Marionettes

Stewart vs. Crossfire and other comic battles

Does Mr. Middle-of-the-Road Lean Left?

Jay Leno talks about the tragedy and comedy of politics

It Came From Hollywood

The Kansas Conundrum

Thomas Frank, pontificating tightwads and the great white-male blogosphere

Tempest From a Teapot

For MoveOn’s Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, politics begins and ends at home

Different Drum

After Vegas, Linda Ronstadt finds refuge in L.A.

Sore Winners (and the Rest of Us) in George Bush’s America

Plastic Pie

Anger Management

The Growing Pains of Liberal Talk Radio

Talk Radio for Lefties

Really Hot Air

Viacom sucks up to FCC over Howard Stern’s indecent exposure

American Bigmouth

Why Michael Moore won’t shut up

Miller's Crossing

Can a pro-Bush comedian get laughs?

George Bush and the Treacherous Country

Stossel’s Choirboys

Monsieur Lévy’s Working Holiday

The anti-anti-American French philosopher survives the New York press

Letters

The Shadowers

Out of the forest of convention(al) punditry came the British and the snide: Hitchens, Cockburn, Vidal and Hitchens again, and again.

When Bobby Met Billy

De Niro, Crystal and Two Smoking Barrels

Home Girl

Keeping the faith with Julia Sweeney

Phil Hartman 1948-1998