Michael Che Pays Homage To Eddie Murphy In A ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketch
Last night on Saturday Night Live, Michael Che paid homage to a classic Eddie Murphy SNL sketch, “White Like Me” by going undercover to gain the perspective of a different rage. While Murphy famously turned himself into a white man to see how they lived, Che decided he needed to understand those that wrote him mail every time a marginalized group was offended by a joke he made on Weekend Update. But it turns out it was basically the same people writing him the letters. So, he decided to go under as “Gretchen,” a super liberal white woman.
And if you’ve never seen the Eddie Murphy sketch in question.
Source: The Laugh Button
On This Day In Comedy… In 1922 Comedian And Actor Redd Foxx Was Born!
On this day in comedy on December 9, 1922, Comedian, Actor, Redd Foxx was born in St. Louis, Missouri
Redd Foxx stated on many occasions that he wanted to leave the world as he came in – with nothing. And he did. His journey of burning through life leaving a stack of bills and few cares started on December 9, 1922 when Mary Hughes from Ellisville, Mississippi gave birth to little John Sanford in Saint Louis, Missouri. She raised him on Chicago’s Southside along with his brother, Fred G. Sanford Jr. Their father Fred G. Sanford Sr. ran off when little John was four years old. He had to grow up quick.
Show business was a profession even a kid could do. So he joined a wash tub band and in 1939 his group, the Jump Swinging Six, performed on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour on radio. However, show business was also an inconsistent profession meaning taking odd jobs between gigs was the norm. In the 1940s he worked as a dishwasher, scrubbing alongside the man would later come to be known as Malcolm X. During this period in both of their unheralded lives Malcolm Little was known as St. Louis Red and called John, Chicago Red, “the funniest dishwasher in the world.” He used the Red part for his stage name and got the Foxx from baseball player Jimmie Foxx.
Redd avoided the draft during World War II by eating half a bar of soap. That little trick right before his physical caused him to have heart palpitations. Still performing as a musician, Redd Foxx recorded 5 songs for the Savoy label in 1946. Then he decided to use his laugh making ability and integrated into comedy. Like most black performers, his technique got tight on the chitlin circuit and he made a lot of friends. He worked solo and for a time partnered with Slappy White.
Redd Foxx got his big break when famed singer, Dinah Washington introduced him to Dooto Records owner, Dootsie Williams and Foxx started recording party albums. Foxx wound up recording over 50 and earning the title, “The King of the Party Records”. His style was raw, uncensored and uncut. A lot of it is tame by today’s standards, but totally shocking in the 1950s and 60s.
Redd Foxx was one of the first comedians to perform before white audiences on the Strip in Las Vegas. He did a few films, but it was his cameo in Cotton Comes to Harlem as a junk man that put him on the path for his defining role as Fred G. Sanford on NBC’s Sanford and Son. It was an American version of the hit British sitcom, Steptoe and Son, but there was nothing British about the way Foxx did it. For one thing he hired most of those friends I just mentioned from the chitlin circuit, including LaWanda Page, Bubba Bexley, Slappy White (his former partner) and Leroy & Skillet. The year was 1972 and the show was an instant hit.
Foxx was riding high, but NBC was dragging him down emotionally by not giving him the same things his white counterpart, Carroll O’Connor (Archie Bunker) of All in the Family was getting. Foxx walked out when he found out O’Connor had a window in his dressing room and Redd had none. The walkout was a minor protest, but it bothered the show’s producers that production had to be held up; especially since he did it more than once. Soon they grew tired of it and Redd grew tired of them growing tired so in 1977 the show was canceled.
Never one to be idle too long Redd did a variety show, but in 1980 found himself back at NBC in attempted revival of the original named Sanford. That didn’t last long so he did what all comedians do when they’re on TV hiatus – he worked clubs, mainly in Las Vegas. He went back to the boob tube in 1986 for ABC on The Redd Foxx Show, but it lasted only a dozen episodes. So back to Vegas he went to earn millions. Known to some as the Godfather of Comedy, Foxx got to work with the King and Prince (Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy respectively) along with a slew of other amazing comedians in the Murphy directed vehicle, Harlem Nights. So money was never the problem. It was how quick Redd would blow it to fulfill his prophecy. This got him into tax problems.
In an attempt to hold off the IRs and continue living in the life style in which he was accustomed, Redd hopped over to CBS and starred in The Royal Family along with old friend, Della Reese. Things were going fine until October 11, 1991, the day Foxx’s long standing gag of grabbing his heart when things got stressful looking upward and saying, “This is the big one, I’m coming to join you, Elizabeth” from his Sanford and Son days fooled everybody on the set. His always mock heart attack was real and John Sanford aka Redd Foxx died that evening at Queen of Angels Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.
He left one current wife and three former wives, an adopted daughter, a 3.6 million bill for the IRS and a world of fans and admirers. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx used Redd’s last name as a tribute to the man. Yes, a fake name replaced another fake name as flattery. Perhaps Jimmie Foxx should’ve been the one flattered.
Hannibal Buress Arrested In Miami for Disorderly Intoxication
CREDIT: REX SHUTTERSTOCK
Comedian Hannibal Buress was arrested Saturday night in Miami, Fla. The Miami Police Department confirmed the news in a tweet.
The police responded via Twitter after a video was posted to social media that appeared to show Buress getting arrested. In the video, he can heard asking the officers to explain what he was being detained for.
According to Miami Herald, Buress was booked in the Wynwood Arts District, which is hosting numerous Art Basel-related events, on a disorderly intoxication charge at 1:57 a.m. and posted bail around 6 a.m. The Herald reports that the incident began when Buress asked a nearby police officer to call him an Uber. When the officer declined, Buress went into a venue and the officer followed him, feeling he was too intoxicated to remain.
“Once outside, the defendant stood by the front gate and continued yelling profanities,” the officer’s report reads. “I, then again, asked him to leave the area about five times. A crowd began to gather and vehicular traffic slowed as they watched the defendant yelling and being disorderly. Defendant arrested.”
Buress is best known for roles in “Broad City,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Baywatch.”
Representatives for Buress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SOurce: Variety
Jamie Foxx To Appear In Season Finale Of Showtime’s ‘White Famous’!
NEW YORK – December 5, 2017 – Academy Award® winner and executive producer Jamie Foxx, who played an over-the-top, satirized version of himself in the pilot episode of WHITE FAMOUS, will reprise his role for the series’ season one finale airing this Sunday, December 10 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. The episode finds Floyd Mooney (Jay Pharoah) coming full circle as his life is once again turned upside down due to a viral internet video. As the career opportunities start pouring in, Foxx comes calling to offer Floyd a chance of a lifetime.
WHITE FAMOUS is a collaboration between creator and writer Tom Kapinos (CALIFORNICATION), who serves as showrunner and executive producer, along with Jamie Foxx. Tim Story also serves as executive producer and directed multiple episodes, including the season finale. A co-production of Lionsgate Television and SHOWTIME, WHITE FAMOUS stars Jay Pharoah, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lonnie Chavisand Jacob Ming-Trent. Guest stars include Cleopatra Coleman, Stephen Tobolowsky, Meagan Good, Jack Davenport, Michael Rapaport, Kendrick Sampson, Lyndon Smith, Natalie Zea, Steve Jones, Stephanie Simbari and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
VH1 To Bring Back ‘America’s Next Top Model’ And Will Have A ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Crossover
The new season of America’s Next Top Model with Tyra Banks will premiere on Tuesday, January 9 at 8PM ET/PT, VH1 announced today. The new season, which will have no age limits on contestants for the first time in the franchise’s history, also will feature a VH1 crossover with RuPaul’s Drag Race fan-favorites Valentina, Katya and Manila.
The new season is set to include guest appearances by former judge Nigel Barker and season three winner Eva Marcille, Director X, beauty and social media guru Patrick Starr, choreographer Jermaine Browne, supermodel Jourdan Dunn and Hip Hop artist Maejor, among others.
Producers promise that the show also will boast more contestant diversity than past seasons.
As previously announced, supermodel and body activist Ashley Graham, Paper Magazine Chief Creative Officer Drew Elliott and celebrity stylist and image architect Law Roach will return as judges.
Tyra Banks and Ken Mok continue as executive producers. America’s Next Top Model is produced by 10 by 10 Entertainment in association with The Tyra Banks Company and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. In addition to Banks and Mok, executive producers are Paul Buscemi and Jaimie Glasson.
SOurce: Deadline
WATCH: New Trailer Of ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’
On Thursday, the prehistoric death trap of Jurassic World beckoned visitors back with a new trailer during Thursday Night Football.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is the sequel to “Jurassic World,” Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 reboot of the “Jurassic Park” franchise. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles as Owen and Claire, and Jeff Goldblum’s return as Ian Malcolm from the original film.
“These creatures were here before us,” Goldblum says in the new footage. “And if we’re not careful, they’re gonna be here after us.”
A teaser trailer was released on Sunday, which showed Owen and Claire running amid a stampede of dinosaurs as the island of Isla Nublar erupted around them in volcanic flames and smoke. On Tuesday, another teaser was released featuring Pratt and Howard trying to upload the trailer during a raptor attack and contained many references to the original “Jurassic Park” film.
Trevorrow previously teased fans with footage of Owen interacting with a young velociraptor.
J.A. Bayona is directing “Fallen Kingdom,” which also stars Justice Smith, James Cromwell, and Toby Jones. Trevorrow, who helmed “Jurassic World,” wrote the script for the sequel with Derek Connolly. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg and Trevorrow. Producers are Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley, along with Bayona’s producing partner Belén Atienza.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is set to release on June 22, 2018.
Source: Variety
On This Day In Comedy… In 1933 Comedian And Actor Flip Wilson Was Born!
On this day in comedy on December 8, 1933, Comedian, Actor, Clerow Wilson, Jr., (aka Flip Wilson) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Wilson arrived on the planet during the Great Depression and his father was constantly looking for work. There were 10 siblings and Wilson’s mother took poverty and near starvation as her cue to leave the family. His father couldn’t handle all those kids alone and so he placed many of them in foster homes. Wilson was one of them and after bouncing around he lied about his age when he turned 16 and enlisted in the Air Force. His sense of humor soon landed Wilson an assignment working special services, traveling around entertaining other troops.
When he was discharged in the mid-50s, Wilson found work as a shill. He’d act drunk in the audience in between acts. That bit of distraction soon became his act up and down the coast of California. He later wrote a routine and found his way on stage and into the professional world of stand-up comedy. Wilson became an Apollo Theater regular and it wasn’t long before he made appearances on The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (where he became a cast regular). His Grammy Award winning comedy album, The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress got him noticed by the network brass and soon after Flip Wilson had his own TV show.
The Flip Wilson Show in 1970 ushered in an era of top rated black programming by every network. NBC gave Wilson a primetime variety slot that put him as must see TV for Nielsen homes and the rest of America. Wilson exposed black acts seldom seen on mainstream shows: The Jackson Five, The Temptations, Redd Foxx and others. George Carlin was one of the writers as well as on camera talent. And the talented Flip Wilson had a plethora of sketch characters; his most memorable being Reverend Leroy of the Church of What’s Happening Now and the super popular – Geraldine Jones and her catchphrases, “The Devil made me do it” and “What you see is what you get”. The public ate it up and the show earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmys.
In 1974 The Flip Wilson Show went off the air and Wilson took a rest. He later made guest appearances on sitcoms (Here’s Lucy) and variety shows (The Dean Martin Show). Wilson did films (Uptown Saturday Night, The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh) and a televised musical (Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan and Danny Kaye) before returning to TV as host of People Are Funny in 1984 and in a sitcom called Charlie & Co. in 1985. His last televised appearance was on the Queen Latifah sitcom, Living Single on Fox in 1993.
Flip Wilson died of liver cancer on November 25, 1998 in Malibu, CA.
On This Day In Comedy… In 1979 Comedian And Actress Tiffany Haddish Was Born!
On this day in comedy on December 3, 1979, Comedienne, Actress, Tiffany Sarac Haddish was born in Los Angeles, California.
Stand-up comedy is the ultimate art form for self-expression and in many cases therapeutic salvation. Tiffany Haddish utilized it for both. The offspring of a Jewish refugee father (who abandoned the family when Haddish was three years-old) and an African-American mother who was Jehovah Witness, Haddish soon found herself heaped in adult burdens. When she was eight, after her mother (who had remarried) was in a crippling auto accident that caused brain damage and schizophrenia. This placed the responsibility of watching her four younger siblings on her young shoulders. By age 12 the situation devolved to the point the family was split up and the children placed into foster homes. Haddish tried to use jokes as a means of making matters tolerable, but still found herself hospitalized with toxic shock syndrome.
Tiffany Haddish’s grandmother was eventually given custody, but the ordeal of being shuffled around had taken its toll. She was getting in trouble in school, yet showed signs of being artistically inclined (Haddish won a drama competition doing a monologue from Shakespeare). However, it got to the point here her social worker gave her a choice – either go to a comedy camp sponsored by the Laugh Factory or go into psychiatric therapy. Thus, the Laugh Factory Comedy Club became her saving grace. Mentored by established professionals she found her niche.
By 2005, Haddish was working in front of the camera. Her first television role was on That’s So Raven and the parts kept coming steadily from there (My Name is Earl, It’s Always Sunny inPhiladelphia, The Underground, Nick Cannon’s Short Circuitz, Just Jordan, Racing for Time, If Loving You Is Wrong, New Girl). Her on-going role as Nekeisha Williams on NBC’s The Carmichael Show established her as a scene stealer America needed to keep an eye on.
Tiffany Haddish stayed busy dong guest spots on shows such as Chelsea Lately, Reality Bites Back, Real House Husbands of Hollywood, Funniest Wins and she did films (Meet the Spartans, Janky Promoters, A Christmas Wedding, School Dance, Keanu, Mad Families) where she was good even in the ones where the same could not be said.
Then came 2017 – her star making year. She had the box office smash Girls Trip, the project that put her over the top and in everybody’s conversation. In the Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith vehicle, Haddish stole everything, but the cameras. Award nominations came piling in and while lips were still flapping Haddish dropped her Showtime comedy special, Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood and made additional history by being the first Black comedienne to host Saturday Night Live, not to mention being featured in a Jay-Z video (“Moonlight”) even though we just mentioned it and releasing her first book, “The Last Black Unicorn”.
Whereas numerous comics who find success in film and television abandon the stage, Tiffany Haddish never sacrificed the vehicle that allowed her the freedom for further success – stand-up. Besides touring, she appeared on Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes and Def Comedy Jam on her ascent and regularly returns to the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp to mentor the youth who need role models and guidance just as she did.
On This Day In Comedy… In 1969 Comedian, Actor, And Radio Personality, Patrice O’Neal Was Born!
On this day in comedy on December 7, 1969, Comedian, Actor, and Radio Personality, Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O’Neal was born.
Born in New York City, O’Neal grew up in Roxbury near Boston, Massachusetts. He turned down a football scholarship to study performing arts and got his start in stand-up at Estelle’s Bar & Grill. It was an open mic and the year was 1992. After putting in time on the Boston circuit, O’Neal moved to New York and then Los Angeles. It turned out L.A. was not a good fit for an uncompromising, confrontational and controversial talent like O’Neal. So, after trying virtually every angle to achieve success he took his act overseas; to the UK. 5 months later he’d gained the respect of his British colleagues and garnered the support of the likes of Ricky Gervais.
In 2002 O’Neal returned to New York and this time things were different. H was invited back to shoot a Showtime special. He then proceeded to get a gig on the cast of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. In 2003 O’Neal recorded a Comedy Central Presents special. He appeared on The Apollo Comedy Hour, FNight Videos, MTV’s 2F, Assy McGee, Ed, Z Rock, Yes Dear, Arrested Development, Chapppelle’s Show, The Office and as a writer for the WWE. He did animated voice-overs for Comedy Central and was a radio regular with Opie and Anthony’s Traveling Virus Comedy Tour.
O’Neal’s first hour-long acclaimed special, Elephant in the Room aired on Comedy Central in 2011. He had a popular podcast and was the voice of Jeffron James in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. He did celebrity roasts and recorded an album. Never stagnant, Patrice O’Neal stayed active until his death from a stroke in 2011.
On This Day In Comedy… In 1968 Comedienne, Actress, Author, And Singer-Songwriter, Margaret Cho Was Born
On this day in comedy on December 5, 1968, Comedienne, Actress, Author, Singer-Songwriter, Margaret Moran Cho was born in San Francisco, California
According to Hollywood lore, Margaret Cho was the first comedian of Asian descent to star in her own sitcom, “All American Girl” on ABC in 1994. That’s if you don’t count, “Mr. T & Tina” two decades previously on ABC as well. The latter show aired for five episodes in the fall of 1976 and starred Pat Morita. It was a spin-off of “Welcome Back Kotter”, with Morita (of “Karate Kid” and “Happy Days” (where he played Arnold Takahashi)), as a Japanese inventor living with a young American played by Susan Blanchard.
The distinction Cho holds is being the first Asian comedienne with her own sitcom. A major achievement considering Cho’s culture looked down on such displays of foolishness. She was pointed in that direction as soon as Mom met Dad. Born in the late 60s, Cho was raised in San Francisco. Her father wrote joke books and owned a book store. There was a comedy club nearby and Margaret developed her act around the old hippies, drag queens, drug heads and immigrants in the area. After working universities for years she got a break with a role on “The Golden Girls” spin-off, “The Golden Palace” then as Jerry Seinfeld’s opening act.
In a profession dominated by men and few Asians of any gender – Margaret got noticed. ABC took her act and churned out, “All American Girl”. For Cho it was more like All American nightmare. The producers kept tweaking the premise of the show from Cho living with her parents in the house, to living in their basement to moving out and living with three men – without explanation. They fired cast members and attempted to find ways to spin-off other shows from a show that obviously wasn’t working itself. They didn’t like her weight and round face so she starved herself in an effort to appear like the Margaret Cho they had in mind; the fictionalized version. The result was major kidney problems for the real version. They told her she wasn’t Asian enough and brought in an Asian consultant to Asian-her-up. That failed so they fired the Asian cast and moved her in with white guys then told her she was too Asian. All this led to the show being canceled after one season and Margaret Cho (the real life one), becoming an alcoholic and drug addict. If those producers had had their way she would’ve committed hari kari during Sweeps Week.
It took Cho awhile to pull out of her depression and addictions and resume comedy work. The show was not the only downer. She had never met with acceptance in the Korean community for her choice of profession. She was looked down upon and this naturally didn’t help when her shot at worldwide success fizzled. Regardless, Cho went forward and created a fashion line of crotchless underwear for men as well as women. She wrote a new act and took her brand of race and sex humor back on the road. She also recorded and released her music.
Margaret Cho has won over a half dozen awards from GLAAD, Entertainment Weekly, the Gracie Allen Award, Lambda Legal, the national organization for Women and the Asian Excellence Award. She mounted almost a dozen major comedy tours. She’s appeared in 30 films, including Face/Off with John Travolta. She’s guest starred in dozens of sitcoms, published two books and released 9 comedy recordings.
