Just as Shakespeare lifted plots from his predecessors, young performers today ought to focus on emulating those artists they like most.
John Cleese’s huge comedic influence has stretched across generations; his sharp irreverent eye and the unique brand of physical comedy he perfected with Monty Python, on Fawlty Towers, and beyond now seem written into comedy’s DNA. In this rollicking memoir, So, Anyway…, Cleese takes readers on a Grand Tour of his ascent in the entertainment world, from his humble beginnings in a sleepy English town and his early comedic days at Cambridge University (with future Python partner Graham Chapman), to the founding of the landmark comedy troupe that would propel him to worldwide renown.
Cleese was just days away from graduating Cambridge and setting off on a law career when he was visited by two BBC executives, who offered him a job writing comedy for radio. That fateful moment—and a near-simultaneous offer to take his university humor revue to London’s famed West End—propelled him down a different path, cutting his teeth writing for stars like David Frost and Peter Sellers, and eventually joining the five other Pythons to pioneer a new kind of comedy that prized invention, silliness, and absurdity. Along the way, he found his first true love with the actress Connie Booth and transformed himself from a reluctant performer to a world class actor and back again.
Twisting and turning through surprising stories and hilarious digressions—with some brief pauses along the way that comprise a fascinating primer on what’s funny and why—this story of a young man’s journey to the pinnacle of comedy is a masterly performance by a master performer.
Far too many Americans have been impacted by gun violence. The stories of survivors and families of those taken by gun violence often go untold. Acclaimed director Spike Lee sat down with several NBA All Stars including Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, and dozens of members of the Everytown Survivor Network to hear how this issue has affected them – and what they’re doing to affect change.
Booze, babes and baseball abound in the first trailer for Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some, the so-called “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused set to premiere at South by Southwest in March.
Where Dazed and Confused followed a group of students on the final day of school in the Seventies, Everybody Wants Some is set in the Eighties and tracks the antics of several incoming college baseball recruits.
Linklater wrote and directed Everybody Wants Some, which will open the SXSW Film Conference on March 11th. The film boasts an ensemble cast of young performers including Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, J. Quinton Johnson, Wyatt Russell, Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell and Will Brittain.
The Beatles’ back catalogue will appear on music streaming services – Spotify, Deezer, Google Play, Microsoft Grooove, Amazon Prime, Rhapsody, Spotify, Slacker, Tidal and Apple Music for the first time on Christmas Eve.
The announcement ends the most high-profile artist holdout from streaming services, and will begin on December 24 at 12:01am local time – here, there and everywhere.
The Beatles’ representative Apple Corps and label Universal Music have opted for broad access rather than signing an exclusive deal with one partner, as they did in 2010 with Apple’s iTunes when Beatles downloads first went on sale.
One of the reasons why the internet was created, stop on over to the tumblr blog Furby Living, inserting the beloved fuzzy electronic robotic toy into classic album artwork.
Which Christmas songs have appeared the most in holiday movies down through the years? According to website FiveThirtyEight who analyzed songs on IMBD, Jingle Bells has appeared in 373 movies. Auld Lang Syne is second, having been listed in 295 holiday movie soundtracks while Silent Night rounds off the top three with 254.
On December 18, 2015, Ray Davies joined Dave Davies onstage at the Islington Assembly Hall in London to perform ‘You Really Got Me’. Among other musicians they were backed up by Dennis Diken of the Smithereens on drums (he had played drums for a Kinks show in Boston in the early 80s) and Debi Doss, one of the backing vocalists from Preservation Hall and Schoolboys in Disgrace.
You always seem pretty relaxed. Do you get stage fright?
I get stage fright, but once I get out there I’m all right. I get crazy useless stage fright, actually. I’m just scared all day but I don’t do anything to help it. I just pace and do useless things. It’s better than the other way around. I recently had this comedy club emcee show up at the very last minute all calm and collected — and he sucked. If I had his act, I’d be nervous as hell!
Have you ever bombed on stage?
I used to bomb all the time. Once you’re famous you never bomb. They just forget you’ve been sucking for 20 minutes. They just accept it. When I started, I used to bomb about 90 percent of the time.
How did you recover?
Sometimes the only thing that can save you is if you drink. Because they’re all yahoos in some of these joints you play. So you tell a joke and they don’t laugh and you go, “I’m going to have a drink!” And they go, “Yeeahhh!” You take a gulp of alcohol and they all cheer. So for a while, since I have no tolerance for alcohol, I was having the waitress bring me fake shooters that had nothing in them. I’d down like 20 shooters and by the end of the night I was the biggest hero ever because I wasn’t down on my hands and knees barfing like a normal human would be doing.
