On this day in comedy on May 3, 1977, Comedian, Actor, Voice-Over Artist, Jeffrey “Jeff” Garcia was born in LaPuente, California
Garcia got started in comedy early – age 15. A few years later he was working steadily in clubs and bars on the Latin circuit in Southern California such as The Wild Coyote. He became a popular club host and in-demand headliner. Known as a quick wit with a strong stage persona, he soon got the attention of mainstream establishments and the industry. Garcia performed on televised standup showcases and toured nationally as well as overseas.
The masses got the biggest Jeff Garcia impact through his voice. Garcia was the voice of Buster the Dog in 1999’s Toy Story 2. Then he got the role that gained him fame – Sheen Estevez in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The film was nominated for an Academy Award and when it crossovered to television he remained in the Neutron world through its various phases and specials. He also did Planet Sheen on Nickelodeon. Garcia has played Pip the Mouse in Barnyard, Rinaldo in Happy Feet and the Baby Fish in Finding Nemo. He was Tipa Bat in Rio and a spoonbill in Rio 2. He’s also voiced numerous video games for Nicktoons including one for Happy Feet and SpongeBob SquarePants
However, Jeff Garcia’s more than just a funny voice. His face is too and has been seen in 3 Strikes, Caroline in the City, Dangerous Minds, Something to Sing About, Mr. Box Office, Transformers: Robots in Disguise and Clone High.
Garcia has done radio with the KMRK-FM 96.1 Wild Wake Up Crew. He performed a half-hour special on Comedy Central Presents and hosted Latin Comedy Fiesta Volume 1. In 2004 he won the Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on May 2, 1986, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling released by Columbia Pictures
Richard Pryor stars in and directed this take on his own life. Starting once he’s set himself on fire freebasing cocaine, his spirit leaves his hospital bed-confined smoldering body to relive his existence and see where he went wrong. Up from his youth raised in a brothel to his early struggling stand up days on the chitlin circuit, the film hits all the major beats of the legendary entertainer’s true story.
Jo Jo overindulges once he makes it. Sound familiar? Then again, it’s hard to overindulge before you make it because – how? Anyway, Pryor’s character overdoes it with women, drugs and his own ego. After he’s made his journey through his life, Jo Jo returns to the hospital and climbs back into himself; hopefully a better and more enlightened man.
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling is the only film Richard Pryor ever directed. It co-starred Paula Kelly, Carmen McRae, Billy Eckstine, Debbie Allen, Art Evans, Diahnne Abbott, Barbara Williams. Michael Ironside and Wings Hauser. The film was written by Paul Mooney, Rocco Urbisci and Pryor with music by Herbie Hancock. It made $18,034,150 at the box office.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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“Everybody talking about Luke Cage like he’s Jesus,” says the new trailer for the second season of the Netflix and Marvel series about Harlem’s resident hero. However, as you can see in the video above, talk means little compared to action in Marvel’s Luke Cage and there is a ton of that in the June 22 launching series.
Amidst explosions, some very 1970s style swagger, street fights, a powerful new arm for Misty Knight (Simone Missick), a well curated hip hop soundtrack, a lot of bullets hitting the bulletproof Cage, a glimpse of Gary C. Clark onstage plus some new and old enemies, Season 2 of the Mike Colter led series looks to have cranked it up from Season 1 – and that was pretty intense itself.
Or as Colter’s Cage darkly puts it at one point in the new trailer: “Sometimes brutality gets shit done.” As you can also see from the key art here, The Defenders alum is caught in a conflict of who he is, who people want him to be and what a hero truly is.
Kicking off with its Lucy Liu helmed premiere, the 13-episode second season from executive producer and showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, fellow EPs Jim Chory and Jeph Loeb sees not only Colter and Missick back but also Marvel small screen hallmark Rosario Dawson, Theo Rossi and Alfre Woodard as the ever-villainous Mariah Dillard. The Night Of’s Mustafa Shakir, Insecure’s Gabrielle Dennis plus The Sopranos alum Annabella Sciorra join Luke Cage this sophomore season as a trio of very different but very determined new enemies for the once reluctant hero.
Marvel’s Luke Cage is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.
Trouble is coming. pic.twitter.com/w305hrHtuA
— Luke Cage (@LukeCage) May 6, 2018
With a tour, a new record deal, a new video and two brand-new songs performed on “Saturday Night Live,” it looks like Childish Gambino’s forthcoming fourth album may be arriving sooner than later. Gambino — a.k.a. Donald Glover — turned his appearance on the show into a multi-faceted promotional vehicle, serving as both host and musical guest and appearing in nearly every skit on the show (including a mock-horror sketch about Kanye West’s tweets and another in which a rap trio styled on Migos — who, in another connection, have appeared on Glover’s popular television show “Atlanta” — are in a therapy session.
The photo of Glover that appeared directly before he performed his new song “Saturday” was clearly styled on the cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1971 album “Music of My Mind,” and that reference was likely no accident: The combines a Caribbean feel with a strong early-‘70s vibe reminiscent of Wonder songs like “Boogie on Reggae Woman” and “Golden Lady.” He was introduced by Zoe Kravitz — Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet’s daughter — who then joined a group of partying people surrounding Glover and his band, who sipped drinks from red plastic cups, danced and played dominos. The song concluded with a heavy percussion breakdown while Glover danced.
Later in the show he performed another new song, “This Is America,” for which he dropped a politically-tinged new video directed by Hiro Murai (who has worked on previous Gambino videos and also directed several episodes of “Atlanta”). Filmed in a large warehouse, the video features a shirtless Glover dancing comically between scenes that alternate between humorous (his dancing and facial expressions) and disturbing (he pulls out an assault rifle and shoots both a hooded captive and, apparently, a gospel choir). In the video’s closing moments, SZA (or someone who looks an awful lot like her) makes an appearance, sitting on a car and looking briefly at the camera.
Glover recently left Glassnote Records for RCA and is expected to release a new album later this year. He will head out on tour in the fall with special guests Rae Sremmurd and Vince Staples; he is also performing at a new installment of his elaborate Pharos festival in New Zealand in November. Glover has said that the next Childish Gambino album he releases will be his last, explaining, “I think endings are good because they force things to get better.”
Source: Variety
AMC has ordered Unapologetic with Aisha Tyler, a companion talk show to its upcoming series Dietland set for premiere next month. Produced by Embassy Row (Talking Dead, Beyond Stranger Things, Watch What Happens Live), the unscripted series hosted by Tyler (Criminal Minds, Archer) will air on Monday, June 4 at 11 PM after two back-to-back episodes of Dietland, and will then move to its regular weekly timeslot of 10 pm ET the following week.
Unlike a conventional after show confined to the companion series itself, AMC says Unapologetic will feature Tyler leading a topical discussion around the broader, female-centric issues and themes that Dietland explores. She’ll talk with celebrity fans, series actors and producers, as well as relevant journalists, writers and comedians. Embassy Row’s Michael Davies and Amanda McPhillips serve as executive producers.
“Dietland is an incredibly well-timed series that focuses on a multitude of critical issues facing women today. We know Dietland will be a launchpad for conversation and this companion series makes room for these important discussions to happen,” said David Madden, president of original programming for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. “We couldn’t be happier to have the extraordinarily smart and talented Aisha Tyler leading the conversation for this series, which will be topical, issue-oriented, unfiltered and funny, just like its scripted sibling.”
“The issues of identity, sexuality, body image and self-actualization raised in Dietlandare more urgent than ever. Our dynamic, rapidly evolving cultural climate demands a frank, no-holds-barred exchange about the ideas and questions raised by the book and series, and the real-world events and issues women face every day. I’m looking forward to expanding the #metoo conversation in funny, honest and engaging ways. It’s about time,” said Tyler.
Starring Joy Nash and Julianna Margulies, the 10-episode satire from Marti Noxon (UnReal) follows Plum Kettle (Nash), a ghost-writer for the editor of one of New York’s hottest fashion magazines. Struggling with self-image and fed up with how she’s treated by her boss and society, Plum sets out on a wildly complicated road to self-awakening. At the same time, everyone is buzzing over news reports about men, accused of sexual abuse and assault, who are disappearing and meeting untimely, violent deaths. Plum also finds herself in the middle of two warring factions—one sisterhood who may be responsible for the attacks on male harassers, and the other which preaches female empowerment. She straddles these two groups, trying to make sense of the changing world and her part in it.
Based on Sarai Walker’s 2015 bestseller, the series will touch on hot-button issues facing women such as patriarchy, misogyny, rape culture and unrealistic beauty standards.
Noxon serves as executive producer, writer, showrunner and directs multiple episodes on the series.
IFC has picked up to series Sherman’s Showcase, a scripted musical variety sketch comedy show created by former Late Night With Jimmy Fallon duo Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle, and executive produced by John Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co. RAdicalMedia is producing the eight-episode series for premiere in 2019.
Sherman’s Showcase was one of three projects on IFC’s 2018 development slate given episodic script orders, part of IFC’s “script to series” development system that the network put in place when IFC President Jennifer Caserta revamped the programming team more than four years ago.
Inspired by iconic shows such as Soul Train, American Bandstand, The Midnight Special and In Living Color, each episode of Sherman’s Showcase is hosted by Sherman McDaniel (Salahuddin) as he takes viewers through time via music and comedy drawn from the forty-year library of a legendary (but fictional) musical variety show. Per IFC: Whether it’s a questionably attired funk super group in the 1970’s, an up-and-coming MC in the 1980’s or an R&B diva from the 1990s, Sherman’s Showcase has it all: music, comedy, games and dancing, with an exuberant host who’s been with the show throughout its run.
Known for their popular “Slow Jam the News,” “The History of Rap” and “Milky J” segments on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Emmy-nominated Salahuddin and Riddle are writing partners who met at Harvard and have worked together on numerous projects including Brothers in Atlanta, Chocolate News and HBO web series The Message. They are currently the creators and executive producers of the Chicago-based series South Side for Comedy Central in which both Salahuddin and Riddle appear. Salahuddin can also be seen in Netflix’s GLOW and the upcoming feature A Simple Favor; Riddle can currently be seen on NBC’s Marlon and Rise.
“When Bashir and Diallo brought us such a fully formed concept, universe and tone from the first pitch, we knew this was going to be a special show for IFC.” said Caserta.”We’re incredibly excited that they brought Radical and Get Lifted into the mix from the start because music is integral to this show’s dynamite DNA.”
In a joint statement, Salahuddin and Riddle said, “We’d like to thank IFC for believing in Sherman’s Showcase. People think of us as comedy guys, when in fact we’re really just frustrated rap-singers that never got signed to Murder Inc. But now we finally have a platform for all the songs that were ever rejected in our career. We’ve always stayed music adjacent… from our early web series to Fallon, from Maya & Marty to endless award shows hosted by Drake, we have always tried to do what Christopher Guest, the Lonely Island and the Muppets do so well… but ‘black.’ So, in the words of the great Chamillionaire, ‘they see us rollin’…they hatin’.’”
“Music and comedy are two of our favorite things. Bashir and Diallo’s script was full of both. The combination of working with them, Get Lifted and IFC was irresistible,” said Frank Scherma, RadicalMedia President.
Said Get Lifted Film Co.’s John Legend, “Diallo and Bashir are such a talented comedic duo, and we’ve wanted to work with them for quite a while. When they came to us with Sherman’s Showcase, we knew it felt really special. We’re excited to bring the worlds of music and comedy together in this exciting series, and we’re happy to team with IFC and RadicalMedia to bring their comedic brilliance to life.”
Issa Rae has been the second cast member to join Little at Universal.
The film “centers on a woman who gets the chance to relive the carefree life as her younger self (Martin), when the pressures of adulthood become too much.”
While it wasn’t announced what role she will be playing, if we took a guess, you can probably bet that she will play the older version of Martin’s character.
Martin came up with the script idea and will executive produce as well. Fresh off the Boat writer Camilla Blackett wrote the most recent version of the script, which had earlier drafts written by Drumline writer Tina Gordon and Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver. Oliver wrote the first draft, and all versions are based on Martin’s idea. Gordon is the director.
Packer and James Lopez, producers of Girls Trip are producing through Will Packer Productions along with black-ish creator Barris. Girls Trip star Regina Hall and Josh Martin will executive produce with Martin.
Little will be in theaters on September 20, 2019.
Source: Shadow & Act
We’re four episodes into the final season of “New Girl” and that means it’s time for some Coach. Yes, on Tuesday’s episode of the Zooey Deschanel-led Fox comedy, Damon Wayans Jr. will return as the fan-favorite roommate who moved to New York at the end of Season 4.
But it doesn’t look like everyone is thrilled to see their old pal.
In the clip above, Nick (Jake Johnson) and Coach are at each other’s throats and Jess (Deschanel) has no idea why. The gang is all gathered at the bar “to celebrate the life of a cat” that loved Nick and Coach like sons — We’re assuming Furguson? But let’s not even go there right now — and these two can’t stop arguing.
Jess finally gets involved to see if this has to do with the fact Nick thinks the movie “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” should actually be called “Paul Blop: Mall Cop” (the rhyme is RIGHT there) or something equally ridiculous. Only it seems like the beef has a little more meat to it, once Nick confesses that Coach actually owes him $71,000.
Wow.
While we have no idea why Coach needed that kind of dough and why Nick (now a successful author) lent it to him, we know that is probably a much bigger reason to bicker than the title of some movie. (Though, as Nick puts it, they did just “give up” there.)
Source: The Wrap
Look for the building with the big mustache on it,” instructs the security guard, gesturing over his right shoulder. “Can’t miss it.” There’s little subtlety to Steve Harvey’s new presence on the Universal Studios lot. The 61-year-old comedian, media giant and seemingly ubiquitous TV host fully relocated to Los Angeles from Chicago in 2017 to relaunch his popular daytime talk show (now with an ownership stake and backed by WME) inside the San Fernando Valley complex — and while his many unscripted gigs may take him all over the map, from West Hollywood (Little Big Shots) to Harlem (Showtime at the Apollo), this mustache-branded studio and office is the unofficial base of operations for a portfolio that can’t stop growing.
“I don’t know that there’s anything that I want to do anymore,” says Harvey, between sips from a crystal tumbler of LaCroix. “I want to produce to give other people some shots. It’s sort of crazy to say, but I probably have a better idea about what viewers like than most of the people who make the decisions out here.”
It’s tough to imagine The Hollywood Reporter‘s Unscripted TV Player of the Year — who has five alternative series and a radio show on top of daytime talker Steve — finding time for anything else. The Cleveland native, whose hometown named a street after him in 2015, is the only person in Hollywood starring on shows on three of the big four broadcast networks — game show Big Shots and spinoff Forever Young on NBC, ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud, and Showtime at the Apollo at Fox — while syndicated mainstay Family Feud averages more than 10 million viewers daily.
His massive output (which perhaps explains the internal memo that leaked last year with some blunt demands from Harvey, sick of being “ambushed” by staffers) helped Harvey pull in a reported $42.5 million in 2017, and that number only stands to grow. On deck: a potential return to the stand-up scene, building what he says will be the biggest TV production outfit in Hollywood and (why not?) launching an organic food empire.
What’s the show where you feel most yourself?
Showtime at the Apollo. That was the first place I was on national TV, as a stand-up, and I eventually became the longest-running host. Nothing would make me walk away from the Apollo. It’s a special place. It requires the greatest skill set, [with] the Apollo audience, to maintain some civility in that room.
How has the room evolved since you first performed there?
A lot more whites live in Harlem now than used to. The audience on Thursday night is 50-50. But Saturday, Sunday, Friday night, it’s more 70-30 black. The whites in that audience are taught by the blacks that this is how this is. I had a lady on the front row, who was white, and I was saying, “Ma’am, you didn’t boo.” “I can’t! That’s so rude to boo!” I looked at her, and the dude in her row stood up and said, “That’s what the fuck we do!” The next act that got booed, she was standing up, booing, pointing them off the stage. She got caught up in the swell of it. This audience is not as vicious as it used to be, because it was crazy. But it’s still enough Harlemites there. They do not let the tradition go.
Does an outlet like the Apollo scratch the stand-up itch since you retired in 2012 — or do you think about getting back out there?
I’m gonna be honest with you, man. I’ve been really seriously thinking about it. I got a special in me that’s so funny. It’s just about my life, the stuff that I’ve been quiet about on social media. I’ve been quiet about the beating I took about my divorce, which was in 2005 and has been ongoing in social media because somebody just won’t let it go. I’ve been quiet about the visit to [Donald] Trump. I kept my mouth shut about the Miss Universe thing [Harvey mistakenly announced the wrong winner at the 2015 pageant]. I kept my mouth shut about the memo that got out in Chicago. I just kept it all. Well, I may have kept it long enough. But I’m only looking for business opportunities now. I don’t need a one-off. I probably want to do what Rodney Dangerfield did, introduce a lot of really, really tough comedians that I know around the country.
These Netflix deals for stand-up specials are huge. Would you be able to even make that over a year of touring?
It would be hard to make that in a year. I was selling out, but I wasn’t selling out $40 million. The Kings of Comedy made that kind of money, but it was four of us [Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac]. We was doin’ $58 to $62 mil a year. The Kings was huge. But you know how many times we had to go out to get that? [Jerry] Seinfeld, [Chris] Rock, [Dave] Chappelle all got big deals, and I’m very happy for them, but I don’t know, man, if I want to do a one-off. And I gotta spend that three hours before the show feeling like I’m fit to vomit. I don’t miss that part of it. Then, I’ve got to go out there and sweat like a mule from the neck down to my drawers — ’cause that’s where I sweat — and, for an hour and a half, dump myself into this audience. When I walk off the stage, I’m completely done. There’s nothing left in me except to go to my hotel room, take a shower and go to bed.
Did you ever get to a point where it didn’t make you so anxious?
Oh, no. No, no, no, no. That never goes away. Every night, man, it was that knot. Every night, it’s a moment where you go, “I can’t do this.” It’s a sickening feeling. I never could shake it. I think it’s a healthy nervous. It makes you respect the audience. Guys that sit around and just BS right till they go up? No. Come on, man, where’s your focus?
What’s the last thing that really made you laugh?
Dave Chappelle’s special on Netflix [The Bird Revelation]. I was screaming. I was sitting in my house, throwing stuff at the TV. (Laughs.) Dave, you can’t do that. You can’t apologize to people and make it worse. That’s not an apology. But he knows that. He is a brilliant guy. We were all standin’ in the White House — Chappelle, Rock and me — when Obama was doing his last party there. But we had to leave our cameras downstairs. And we were sitting there going, “I need this picture. When am I gonna see y’all again?” They took our fucking cameras.
When people are so easily offended now, does it make comedy harder?
That’s the one hesitancy I have with going back to stand-up. I’m in a sponsor-driven business, and they keep moving the line of political correctness. It keeps getting closer and closer to where you can’t open your mouth negatively. Throw away freedom of speech. That’s out the window now. The Ku Klux Klan and the skinheads can get a permit to walk down the street to bash Jews, gays, blacks, immigrants, anybody. But if I tell a joke, Procter & Gamble pulls. Once Procter & Gamble pulls, Mercedes gotta pull. Then Kool-Aid. That’s an ugly place to be in. But you can get a permit and put a hood on your head to walk down the street. Really? Regardless as to what our president said, there’s not good people on both sides.
Being outside the stand-up community, do you see the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements having a lasting effect on that world?
It’s something that needed some light to be shined on it because so many people, so many women were suffering without being able to say it. The sad part is there are people who are jumping on the bandwagon with fake stories. It messes us up for the women who really have issues. It’s funny, though. In the political climate, if you get an accusation, you get a congressional hearing. In this business, you out. Donald Trump is the president. Billy Bush outta work. I heard the tape. Why Billy is outta work is beyond me. But why Donald Trump is in the White House is beyond me, too. (Laughs.)
What’s been the biggest lesson in relaunching the talk show?
Moving the show out here, the intent was to bring on a bunch of celebrities and have a late-night feel. But the daytime audience is totally different. They just like what they like, cooking segments and makeovers. We got a second year pickup, so we’ve already started changing it more into what people have grown to expect from me. I’m a die-hard believer in reinvention. But sometimes you just have to leave the wheel alone, and let it roll down the hill. They have this thing in television called “research.” (Laughs.) It’s a dangerous thing, because research keeps you married to stuff. If a segment rates well, they go, “Well, why would you change that?” My thought is to try for something that could rate better, but they don’t like that. You have to listen to that, because I don’t own any TV stations. You’ve got to play the game.
Source: This story first was posted in The Hollywood Reporter