Tag Archives: michael showalter

Live Review and Photos: Michael Showalter and Allison Gill at the Casbah, March 4, 2011

Photos by Chris Maroulakos

The Casbah turned into a comedy club Friday evening as it welcomed TV and film veteran Michael Showalter and local comedienne Allison Gill to its stage.

First, Gill warmed up the crowd with her delightful crassness, alternately wringing laughter and shocked groans from the crowd. She even included some guitar toward the end, launching into a country song that explained why fat girls are particularly skilled at administering oral pleasure. Continue reading…

Book Review: “Mr. Funny Pants” by Michael Showalter

Photo credit: Chris Maroulakos

As a genus, books by comedians are generally one of a few species: thoughtful or funny memoirs about their personal and professional pasts, humorous to hilarious essays, transcriptions of stage bits, or book-length conceptual jokes. Of course, there can be some crossbreeding, resulting in interesting beasts. With his debut book, Mr. Funny Pants, Michael Showalter takes every kind of book a comedian could write, mashes it together with every kind of book every other occupation could produce, and comes up with a hydra-headed monster that’s really fun to play with, despite how difficult it is to classify. Continue reading…

Contest: Win Michael Showalter’s Book, Get Into His Funny Pants

Michael Showalter, perhaps best known from a previous post on this website, has written his first book, Mr. Funny Pants, which he describes as a “humorous quasi-memoir.” With a release party that featured Neko Case and a few other stops under what might be a very droll belt, his book tour is currently unfolding.

As Showalter travels around two-thirds of the countries in NAFTA, be sure to see him. San Diego people, your chance is tomorrow at the Casbah at 6:30pm. Non-San Diego people, you can find his full tour information here.

Oh, and if you haven’t picked up a copy of the book, here’s your chance to obtain one for free. We’ve got 6 copies to give away thanks to the nice folks at Grand Central Publishing. Want one?

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this here post and include your email address in the form (your email won’t be visible to the public). The contest ends March 20, 2011, at midnight and winners will be chosen at random. The contest is open to residents in the United States and Canada. No PO Boxes, please, and only one copy per household.

Michael Showalter Puts on His Funny Pants

The Casbah is San Diego’s most famous music venue, and over the years it has played host to thousands of groups ranging from Nirvana to Arcade Fire. But on March 4, the act set to grace the club’s hallowed stage won’t be a band or musician at all — it’ll be some guy named Michael Showalter. Continue reading…

Issue-Having Michaels and the State of Things (TV)

Michael & Michael Have Issues Michael & Michael Have Issues, a headbirth of Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter (note that, so as to not get political, from now on I’ll refer to them as M&M because I can’t be sure which Michael comes first in the title, and I only mentioned Mr. Showalter after Mr. Black above for alphabetical reasons), is, simply put, an upcoming television show. Premiering on Comedy Central July 15  at 10:30 EST, the show is a sketch show about M&M making their own sketch show, according to a press release from Comedy Central. We’re in store for some meta-sketching, it seems. But not to worry—we may be in good hands.

The folks over at Punchline Magazine, a website that takes comedy seriously, had the good fortune of seeing the pilot. The show, according to Punchline, is “fucking hilarious” and suitable for those who got down on the idiosyncratic humor of Stella and also for newcomers unfamiliar with M&M but looking for something edgier than SNL.

Comedy Central has had mixed results with its original seasonal programming. Many shows, like Freak Show and Dog Bites Man (and Stella, for that matter), go unappreciated and don’t live to see a second season. Others, like Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and Strangers with Candy, have a decent go at it. And still others, like South Park and Reno 911!, endure. Continue reading