Tag: 30 Rock

Comedy Night Done Right-ish

parksandrecreation

Let me start off by saying shame on NBC Saint Louis for showing special news coverage on the Taste of Saint Louis and some weird mom, baby thing for the first hour of NBC’s Comedy Night Done Right.   Now I don’t mind so much that I missed the Half Hour Weekend Update at seven, but forcing me to miss Parks and Recreation and being forced to have to wait to watch it the next day on the Internet all for some stupid mom, baby special is abominable.   They’re just lucky they pulled it this past week instead of when 30 Rock was going to premiere because they might have received a pretty strongly worded email.   Anyway I hate to say but watching the Parks and Recreation on the Internet the next day was the only real highlight of the night.

I have to say Parks and Recreation has been stepping up their game this season and keeping their episodes intriguing, fairly tight, and of course, awkwardly hilarious.   The whole set up this week had Leslie and Tom as judges for the Miss Pawnee Beauty Pageant.   Of course the hottest girl in the show, who happened to have zero talent in the talent competition and zero class all together, came to be the front runner, with Leslie pulling for the more matronly looking of the girls.   All of it ended in a slight nod to 12 Angry Men with Leslie desperately trying to convince the judges to very little avail.   I especially loved the former beauty pageant winning judge who was pulling for the hottie and admitted her talent had been packing a suitcase.   We also get to see Louis C.K. popping back in as the dim bulb police officer now trying to win Leslie’s affections.   This is all done pretty cute and will be pretty fun to watch throughout the rest of the season.

Now on the more dull side of the comedy spectrum, I wasn’t overly blown away by the nights episode of The Office.   Frankly it was hard for them to make a whole episode about who should get raises or not funny and they did try their best.   But when that is what the whole episode is devoted to it gets to be a bit much when that’s all they are willing to do for the whole half hour.   Though this is so far about the only episode I really haven’t liked for the season they are still doing pretty good for themselves and I know not everyone is going to be a winner.

Now for Community.   Oh Community, how you strive to be better and better and yet you only inch your way there episode by episode.   I will admit, this weeks episode was stepping it up and was working a little bit better for me.   We got a little bit more going with the Arab kid and find out some more stuff about his background.   But it sadly only consists of the old plot device of the parent that doesn’t believe in the kids actual dream and wants them to work in the family business.   Though I will give it to him that the documentary he filmed was creepily clever and funny.   The only problem is they still don’t know to do with the myriad of side characters they have and the jittery girl and the in her thirties black woman still had nothing to do.   I’m expecting they’ll get more attention in later episodes but right now they are highly unutilized in dull side plots.   I think one had to do with how a person sneezed like a girl or something, I don’t know.   Just get 30 Rock back and get this definitely back to Comedy Night Done Right.

Tina Fey is ‘Stuck Like Chuck’

Tina Fey Is Stuck Like Chuck

With 22 emmy nominations for 30 Rock, I thought now would be the perfect time to show Tina Fey just how much we love her. Sure I could have written a nice article about how awesome she is, but instead I decided to release a clip from my film ‘Stuck Like Chuck’, which I have affectionately dubbed “The Tina Fey Scene”. In this scene, Rob (Patrick McColley) makes Charlie (Joe Moran) realize just how much he loves Juliet (Jocelyn DeBoer), by using Tina Fey as an example.

This is not the full scene from the film because I did not want to give too much away, but it does give you a good feel for the film. This clip may also be good luck for Tina Fey (and everyone else with the show) since my film won the Audience Choice Comedy award at the SINY Film festival last month. This is the first time I released an extended clip from the movie so please tell me what you think of it.

And as an added bonus, here is a compilation of some alternate takes from the scene. We had a lot of fun on set and this video shows it. It also shows off Patrick’s awesome improv skills.

If you want to know more about the film, you can read the synopsis below or watch the trailer & other promo videos at www.AreYouStuckLikeChuck.com.

‘STUCK LIKE CHUCK’ is a romantic comedy about friendship, love, college and the awkward situations that bring them all together. Charlie is a student filmmaker. Juliet is a hot film geek. Rob is just awesome. Since Charlie is a wreck when talking to Juliet outside of class, Rob locks the two of them in their Film-201 classroom for the night. Pop culture is dissected, life is observed and love spends the night in.

Jerry Cavallaro – www.AreYouStuckLikeChuck.com

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘Kidney Now!’

All these stars support Kidney Now! Shouldn't you?
All these stars support Kidney Now! Shouldn't you?

Again we have season finales going off on all NBC comedies Thursday night and that means 30 Rock is seeing its end for the year and they left us with something oddly touching and funny as they know how to do best. I’m glad to see this show getting the respect it deserves because I remember the fear of when the first season wasn’t getting great ratings and that it might not last for more than a season or two. Luckily they paired it up nicely with The Office and it’s become more of a staple of how comedy now needs to be done after kicking ass at the Emmys and the Golden Globes. So we get one more inspired and well detailed episode before we’re tossed into months of heat and a TV wasteland.

So we continue now with jack finding his real father in the form of Alan Alda and with the reveal that he now needs a kidney it is a mad dash to see if Jack is even a match for the man. Luckily when medical questions come into play on this show they tend to always bring on probably the oddest character they have on the show Dr. Leo Spaceman played by the perfectly daffy Chris Parnell. I always love when they have this character on because it usually means he’s going to say something great as when he tries to tell Jack the results but everything is in medical jargon that he can’t understand. There’s even a sweet scene where Jack and his dad end up playing catch with something and they realize it and just decide to go with it.

Then there’s Liz who becomes a relationship advice expert after she is invited on to what I can only describe as a jab at Jerry Springer, Maury, and more especially Tyra Banks on the hybrid Vontella. I like that people are mocking Tyra Banks a little more now because her show is just a huge waste of time and she’s one of the worst hosts for a talk show I’ve ever seen. But I’m still addicted to her show because it is so outlandishly terrible so I guess I can’t get too mad at her. But anyway, Liz of course becomes addicted to her new relationship altering powers and gives terrible advice to women without hearing the whole story.

Tracy actually gets a pretty nice story as he is asked to speak at his high school’s senior graduation. He is ambivalent though because he never finished high school because he couldn’t dissect a frog. Kenneth eventually sway him towards it though and we get a patented crazy speech from Tracy Morgan to the lucky graduates. Also near the end we get a stampede of famous musicians who show up for a benefit concert to get Jack’s dad a kidney. Most are used to good effect such as Clay Aiken who admits to riding on subways and Elvis Costello or should I say Decklind MacManis, international art thief! And they actually do bring in a lot of good talent such as the Beastie Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryle Crow and the guy from Maroon 5 that I find to be a little bit of a jerk sometimes. So of course there’s a great big musical number at the end with the rockers taking jabs at each other and making a nice little tune for us all to enjoy. So thank you 30 Rock for another good season and I’m sure we will see you on the return of Fall.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘Mamma Mia’

Cameo Appeal:Get David Schwimmer back as Greenzo!
Cameo Appeal:Get David Schwimmer back as Greenzo!

What better way to go with an episode of 30 Rock so close to Mother’s Day than to have it focused pretty much primarily on fathers. I’m not sure if there was anything intentional behind this happening but I wouldn’t put it passed the makers of this hilarious show to pull such a stunt so close to one of the holidays really few care for and probably deserves a good bashing. Now I’m not putting any slight against Mother’s Day, I’ve already got my Mother’s Day present bought and almost wrapped, but let’s not forget this day may have been invented for no more reason than to sell a few extra cards and get some flower sales moving. But enough of the same old tired, cynical approach to the holidays that we could really pay no never mind, there’s an episode to get down to.

Basically in this episode we see the continuance from last week’s previous declaration that Jack’s father may not be his actual father but he refuses to do the usual shtick and try to hunt him down. That is until Liz gets involved and convinces him to do it and we get another unexpected cameo by the great Steve Buscemi as the private eye who actually has a glass eye. No, seriously. Steve Buscemi lost an eye in a car accident and got it replaced with a glass one and I got to tell you there must be great advances in glass eye technology because for the life of me I couldn’t tell which one was the faker. Well anyway, Liz then hatches a Mamma Mia type scheme after it’s narrowed down to three men and they are invited, as contest winners, to the TGS set. They pretty much consist of an Asian man, a man who lost his down there region in the war and now looks like Spaghetti-O’s down there, and Alan Alda. I wonder who the real father will be?

Then we also have someone who is pretending to be Tracy’s illegitimate son and basically robbing the holy heck out of him and Tracy is as clueless as they come. Of course Liz and Pete can’t stand for this and they end up getting the help of Lutz who is apparently proficient in the ways necessary to prove this person might be a fake. Now this story line is a bit weak and expected and you can pretty much figure out the conclusion before we ever arrive to it, but that doesn’t keep them from making some hilarious jokes and one liners before we get there. And that’s really the best part of this show. Even if they are working off a story line that you know, more or less, what the whole deals about, they still give you some of the best comedy that TV can offer. And once again I must say suck it to Two and a Half Men that gets so much more ratings than this show, though I’d say less awards, and still manages to do nothing clever EVER and sticks to every lame plot that has ever been done without a shred of good humor whatsoever.

I’m glad this show us still chugging along and I know I will always have a good laugh watching it. How could it not be with Tracy Morgan on and can say pretty much anything and make it hilarious. Even the subplot with Jenna who gets some notoriety after Liz writes her a great one liner for the show is pretty funny as Liz gets jealous that she’s getting all the praise for something she say she helped wrote but actually texted her gay friends while Liz stayed up until four in the morning eating Raisin Bran. So keep it up 30 Rock and I guess we will be seeing a little bit more of Alan Alda to come in the next couple of weeks. You gotta milk those guest stars for as many episodes as you can and I see some great dad/son bits between him and Jack popping up in the near future.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘The Natural Order’

30-rock-christmas-1

I’d like to start off my review of 30 Rock by saying how happy I am to see the character of Jonathan back as Jack’s assistant. Maulik Pancholy as Jonathan is a brilliantly loopy person who fits very well into the mold of 30 Rock as a man in so much awe of another man he’s grown and odd love for him and after he was fired a few weeks ago because of cutbacks it’s good to see Jack couldn’t live without him as I’m sure it’s the same the other way around. You should also check Maulik out in the show Weeds where he plays another somewhat gay man and is pretty funny in that as well. So, anyway, what we’ve got here is your typical, classically perfectly hilarious episode of 30 Rock with all the just right blunders you would hope the characters to fall into.

First off we have Liz scorning Tracy so badly for never showing up on time and there is a great bit where a handful of people changed his clocks so much he couldn’t tell you what time it was if he has a sundial strapped to his back. So now Liz is informed that Tracy has two options and they both don’t sound particularly good for anybody. Now Tracy has decided to do the work that he is actually paid to do but the price might be too heavy for Liz to handle. Let’s just say it involves a great bit of slapstickiness with a water cooler and, of course, a good old fashioned jaunt to a strip club to go see some naked daughters and moms!

We also have another return of Jack’s mom who has brought a lover with her even though this day apparently marks the anniversary of when Jack’s dad left them and never came back. She of course could care less since it turns out the man disappeared so often it was no shocker to see him show up one night and be all antsy to go see Some Like it Hot. Being the good boy that he is, Jack hires a private eye to find out some dirt on the guy. I won’t say what is found out but its fairly simple and when the big confrontation does occur the explanation is what you probably would’ve guessed it would have been anyway so don’t expect any great shocks from this subplot.

Even the later shocker we get you could pretty much gather from what somebody had said earlier. The one good part here is that we get a good little scene with Steve Buscemi returning as the private detective he played last season and he’s got some good lines and you really can’t tell that he now has a glass eye after that car accident he was in.

The truly best bits in this episode come from Jenna who stands up for a gibbons monkey that Tracy had brought into replace him and they actually found the monkey showed up on time and didn’t bite any of the dancers. She even goes as far as naming it Little Jenna and everyone warns her that it’s unnatural to keep a monkey that way and dress him in cute little outfits that of course Jenna is stupid enough to put the monkey in, even though he does look adorable.

But, low and behold, Jenna pushes the monkey too far and puts it into so many situations that would provoke anger from a monkey that the results are less than what you would want happen with a monkey wrapped around your neck. It’s good to see that this show can still run an efficient episode and the comedy seems so seamlessly perfect it’s surprising to watch how they never seem to fail in making their episodes gut wrenchingly amusing to watch. I mean what can you say about a show that can make a spot on Quantum Leap reference?

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘The Ones’

The cast looks off into the stands, are you picking your nose up there?
The cast looks off into the stands, are you picking your nose up there?

Well men have no fear for you may have thought Salma Hayek would never return to 30 Rock after she left Jack earlier this season to go to some far off distant land for whatever reason was needed to have her exit since she’s a big name celebrity and she can’t stick around a TV show for very long. But now is a time for rejoicing my fellows for she is back on this week’s episode and in the first scene we see Jack looking for engagement rings for his beloved Latina with Liz in tow and there’s a great bit where she drops a ring down a vent and Jack must explain that this is not the woman he is marrying and shows the jeweler a picture of Salma and he takes him right away into the real show room.

But there is a bit of a hitch as Salma admits to Liz that she can’t marry jack because of some deep dark secret and she wants Liz to be the one to tell Jack what it’s all about. There’s some pretty interesting discoveries throughout the episode with this story line and I especially liked the part where Salma had to dramatically explain herself while wearing a shirt that said “What the Frak† on it and we all pretty much know what it’s leading up to but I will allow you all to find it out for yourselves. This does follow in the great tradition of celebrity guest stars on 30 Rock and how they are hilariously used and twisted about in this world that Tina Fey has crafted for them. And you can trust me in the fact that you will not be disappointed in what you are given in the way of story line for Miss Hayek.

Now with the rest of the episode we see Tracy trying to find the perfect anniversary gift for his wife which he gets down to either diamond bedazzled jacket that says “Hot Bitch† across the back or a slanket. I barely knew what a slanket was before this episode and upon finding out I don’t think I’d ever want to use one. For those not in the know it’s basically a blanket that has arm holes in it so you don’t have to release any bodily heat if you want to get something from the fridge or something. I will admit that I can be quite the lazy man on more than one occasion but that is going over the top just a little bit. Luckily for Tracy all he has to do is ask his wife what she wants and unfortunately for Tracy what his wife wants is a gift very few men would ever be willing to do.

Then we have Jenna who becomes so enamored with a brawny paramedic that actually likes her show and isn’t gay that she abuses the use of the emergency line, as well as someone’s deathly allergy to strawberries, just so she can reconnect with him. There is a really funny part where Pete asks her a question that tests whether people are psychopaths, which I had actually heard years ago, and Jenna doesn’t come off very well with her answer. The question basically involves whether you would be willing to murder your own father just in the hopes that someone you had meant at a funeral and liked would then come to this funeral so you could reconnect, sound familiar? Luckily no one ends up super hurt, or in a coffin, and there’s a great joke where Jenna is tricked by The Pranksmen, which is Twofer, Pete, and all the rest of the writers who do pranks and where kick ass fedoras. All in all a good episode that falls right in line with proving that 30 Rock still has the balls to be the funniest show on TV.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode:’Cutbacks’

Twofer is thinking about breaking his empty bottle of wine over Frank's head.
Twofer is thinking about breaking his empty bottle of wine over Frank's head.

It would seem not even the amazing minds behind the show TGS with Tracy Jordan are immune to the corporate layoffs that plague are very existence at this time in our lives. This episode of 30 Rock delves into the heartbreaking reality that many people are now facing, with utter brilliant comic timing throughout of course. After celebrating their fiftieth show there is little time for the drunken shenanigans that would have invariably ensued when Jack comes by and tells Liz that they are hiring a consulting firm to trim the fat around the building. He even gives them bottles of wine in commemoration but they happen to be empty decorative wine bottles. So Liz, being the trooper that she is, decides to find any way that she can to keep her whole staff and not have to fire anyone. She even tries to trim down the excessive amount of straws her staff uses but to no avail as the straws will be essential since they find rats crawling all over their sodas. There’s even a great routine that she does as she dresses and mimics the mannerisms of Steve Jobs as she presents how important the show is and how funny it is as well. Of course as she shows some clips she shows ones that would not exactly inspire confidence in anyone, such as Jenna as the “Me Want Food† lady.

Jack on the other hand was forced to fire his faithful assistant Jonathan, who has I guess had a gay crush on Jack this whole time or maybe it was just a bromance, and he left broken hearted and with a tune still in his mouth. So he decides to get Kenneth to take over as his secretary as I’m guessing that he can get him to do it for no extra money and the fact that Kenneth can be duped into anything. Kenneth utterly fails though in his innocent man child way and can’t get anything right from answering the phones to knowing if it’s the right time to let someone into Jack’s office or not. Also he is constantly spilling the beans to those in the waiting area that the long line of people coming through are getting tossed out on the street.

Then there’s an odd side story that has Tracy and Jenna thinking that Kenneth is hiding dead bodies in his bedroom because Kenneth told Tracy to go get something from his apartment but to not go into the bedroom at all costs. Tracy and Jenna can go on this whacky side adventure because it’s been made clear, mostly by them, that the talent has nothing to worry about the layoffs. So they trudge over to Kenneth’s apartment and open his bedroom and a can of bug spray or something goes off and kills Kenneth’s parrot. They try to apologize, in the most absurd way possible of course, and Kenneth becomes infuriated and tells them what’s what. They learn their lesson though and make it all right in the end.

Liz on the other hand has barely any chance to make it right in the end as she is being forced to cut something from her budget and her whole staff s clamoring for her to do something to save whoever she can. That’s when it becomes clear that sleeping with the leader of the consultants in exchange for no one getting fired is the best course of action to take. So she takes him out to dinner and then back to her place but the next day he’s firing people anyway and it turns out the man’s wife just died and he actually thought Liz was interested in him. Oh Liz, breaking hearts and totally not getting what’s going on is why we love you so much, don’t ever change kid. So, as usual, the episode ends with no one getting canned and Liz making a big ass out of herself in front of everyone, as it always should now and forever be.