Many comedians root their humor in the images they’ve chosen to project. The premise of Jack Benny’s comedy was that he was cheap. Rodney Dangerfield didn’t get any respect. Phyllis Diller was unsightly. Woody Allen was a nebbish. Back when…
I suspect that there were more than a few youngish New York Times readers who, on July 14, were baffled to turn a page and encounter a 2,500-word think piece about Janeane Garofalo. Jane who? Perhaps you’re too young to…
Netflix Is a Joke is the name of a Netflix comedy festival that was held in Los Angeles from April 28 to May 8. It’s a curious title, because in comedy circles Netflix is indeed a joke — a streaming…
“When I was young, if you were a flight attendant, and you were a lady, we would call you a stewardess,” Norm Macdonald informs in a discussion about neutered language during his comedy special that debuted on Memorial Day. “And,…
I’ve never watched either the U.K. or U.S. version of the sitcom The Office, so my immense respect for its creator, the English stand-up comic Ricky Gervais, is based almost entirely on the monologues he delivered at five Golden Globes…
In 1978 there was a movie entitled Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? I’m not too knowledgeable about great chefs, European or otherwise, but during the last few months so many of the best comedians of our time…
The world is divided between those of us who get slapped in time and those who do not. The slap triggers a blocking effect on the imbeciloidal gland, which is in charge of secreting stupidity into the human body. Traditionally,…
On my favorite sitcom ever, King of Queens (1998-2007), about unambitious working stiff Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) and his hot — and hotheaded — wife, Carrie (Leah Remini), Patton Oswalt played Doug’s friend Spence Olchin, who in the first few…
During the last few days, while the Taliban has been mopping up in Afghanistan and commentators have been speaking of the end of the American Century, my thoughts have returned repeatedly to a story I read at “Page Six,” the…
