From The Comic's Comic

All the ha-has and oh-nos from the week in comedy that was Jan. 16-22, 2023

Who ya got? In judging the late-night George Santos impersonations from last week, I recall those famous words: It’s not the content of their lies, but the quality of their panache!

But what, pray tell, is our actual top story?

Craig Ferguson Returns To Late-Night?!

Looks like Craig Ferguson is ready to host a late-night TV show again. Only this time, he’s aiming to anchor a half-hour show with a format that you’d know and love if you remember E!’s The Soup. Will his Robot Skeleton be reuniting with him? Ferguson, 60, hosted The Late Late Show on CBS from 2005-2014. Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson, produced by Sony Pictures Television, is making the pitch rounds after shooting a pilot in the UK. “I wanted to do Channel Surf because I think television is ready for the return of the silly/ funny/ occasional lip-synching puppet format. Also, it’s a TV show which contains clips of questionable moments from other TV shows thus creating a spectacular visual turducken of stupid,” Ferguson said.

Syndication, eh? The obvious customers: FOX, The CW (Nexstar). Less obvious: If NBC (rumored) or CBS (vacancy soon in his old time slot!) wanted to save money or otherwise scrap their own late-late programming, they could buy in with Ferguson. CBS would be the ironic choice, obviously. But what if one of the streaming platforms wanted to buy in?!

Meanwhile…ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! celebrates its 20th anniversary this Thursday with a special primetime episode at 10 p.m. ET/PT (re-airing in late-night), with the same guests who showed up for his premiere on Jan. 26, 2003: George Clooney, Snoop Dogg and Coldplay.

Variety published an early excerpt of Pamela Anderson’s forthcoming memoir, which alleges that Tim Allen exposed himself to her on set of Home Improvement on DAY ONE of filming. “He opened his robe and flashed me quickly — completely naked underneath. He said it was only fair, because he had seen me naked. Now we’re even. I laughed uncomfortably,” Anderson wrote. Allen denied it over the weekend, according to TMZ.

Mark Your Calendars

Tours announced last week:

• Chelsea Handler’s Little Big Bitch tour began selling tickets on Jan. 21 via Live Nation (starts April 13 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, stopping in Boise, Las Vegas, Tulsa, Memphis, and more before wrapping up in Atlantic City on June 10 at the Music Box at the Borgata)

• Straight Jokes, No Chaser Comedy Tour — hosted by Mike Epps with Cedric The Entertainer, Earthquake, D.L. Hughley, and DC Young Fly. Starts March 4, in Indianapolis, and ends May 27 in Las Vegas.

Festivals announced last week:

Gilda’s LaughFest, happeningMarch 8-12, headlined by Tig Notaro, Pete Holmes, the Clean Comedy Showcase, D.J. Demers, Daphnique Springs, and Mike Vecchione. Charlie Berens will headline the annual Gilda’s Red Door Gala on March 16. Tickets on sale now.

FILE UNDER Talk about using comedians as your social media rollout…Madonna recruited Amy Schumer, Eric Andre, Judd Apatow, Bob the Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Jack Black, Diplo and Lil Wayne for her video “Truth or Dare” game which served as an announcement for her new tour. OK. She got me to mention it here, so you win this time, lady Madonna.

Congrats to Paul Simms!

Paul Simms will receive the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence at this year’s Writers Guild Awards, with Donald Glover presenting the award to Simms. His long list of credits began with Late Night With David Letterman and The Larry Sanders Show, before creating the classic NewsRadio. You’ve also seen his name in the credits and benefitted from his writing/producing on Flight of the Conchords, Wainy Days, Bored to Death, Boardwalk Empire, Girls, Atlanta, Divorce, and currently What We Do in the Shadows. The WGA awards take place March 5, hosted by Michelle Buteau (in NYC).

R.I.P. Michael Lehrer

Michael Lehrer, a former Second City performer and 2014 New Face at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Characters, died last Tuesday at age 44. He chose assisted suicide in Oregon to stop his suffering from ALS. A month ago, Lehrer had posted this video tribute to him from the “Kill Tony” show in Austin. Rest in peace, Michael.

Industry News and Notes

The big reselling of HBO programming has begun!? Issa Rae’s Insecure joins the OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, with the pilot re-airing there Feb. 7, two episodes each airing back-to-back on Tuesday nights.

• But Warner Bros. Television is still in business, and what’s more: Developing a limited series about Buster Keaton that would star Rami Malek, and be directed/produced by Matt Reeves???!!!! Tell me more, please!

• And CNN has exclusive broadcast rights for the 24th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony celebrating Adam Sandler. Ceremony happens March 19. CNN telecast: Sunday, March 26 at 8 p.m. ET.

• Night Court scored the highest ratings across broadcast network TV for the 2022-23 season with its revival debut (7.4 million overnight for the premiere).

• Ramy Youssef’s #1 Happy Family USA, an animated series ordered at Amazon Prime, will include the voices of Alia Shawkat , Salma Hindy, Randa Jarrar, Mandy Moore, Chris Redd, Akaash Singh and Whitmer Thomas.

• Amazon’s Freevee, meanwhile, has ordered The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, an eight-episode series inspired by the life of showrunner Vijal Patel, starring Naveen Andrews.

• Vin Di Bona, 78, and the creator and EP of America’s Funniest Home Videos (still on the air, Sundays on ABC!), sold a majority stake in his company (Vin Di Bona Productions and Fishbowl Worldwide Media) to private investors, including Clarion Capital Partners. Terms not disclosed.

• ABC is developing Forgive and Forget, a multi-cam with Ty Burell from Eugene Garcia-Cross and Robin Shorr and 20th Television, about a guy who takes in his father when he’s diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

• ABC ordered a pilot for Public Defenders, a single-cam written by Eddie Quintana.

• NBC ordered a pilot for Retta to star in the drama, Murder by the Book, about a book critic who “becomes an unlikely detective.”

• Stephen Colbert’s Spartina will EP a TV adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s “The Chronicles of Amber,” which influenced George R.R. Martin and his “Game of Thrones.”

• Hulu has renewed Letterkenny spin-off Shoresy, for a 6-episode, second season. Season one debuted in May 2022.

• Hulu also nabbed Meryl Streep for season three of Only Murders in the Building!

• The Ms. Pat Show returns to BET+ for season three on Feb. 23.

Last Week’s Specials

New on YouTube (self-released unless otherwise noted; excluding old specials released on the platform, and anything under a half-hour)

• Tim McLaughlin Goes Bananas

• Nick Naney: NESSUN DORMA

• Nathan Macintosh: Money Never Wakes

• Matt Ruby: SUBSTANCE

• Joe Hill: Somebody’s Gotta Hear This (via Four by Three)

• Matt Rife: Only Fans (via 800 Pound Gorilla Media)

• Kabir Singh: Bollerwood (via Helium Comedy Studios)

• Juan Forno: The Snow Mexican* (also available to rent on Amazon)

New on Amazon (for rent/sale)

• Brandon Queshawn: Everybody’s a Target (via Maverick Entertainment Group)

• Stand Up For Pits Comedy Special with Rebecca Corry, hosted by Kaley Cuoco (via Comedy Dynamics)

THIS WEEK: 10 (Previous subtotal: 12) Running total for 2023: 22 stand-up specials!

Late-Night Roundup

• Fahim Anwar performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

• Fabrizio Copano performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT! I appeared on last week’s “Hunk With Mike Bridenstine” podcast panel alongside Kristal Adams, Ricky Carmona, Renee Gauthier and Chris Mejia.

Fun Things To Do In NYC

This week’s show(s) I plugged in The New York Times: I plugged Peru’s “Unpopular Opinions” at Caveat.

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