On this day in comedy on July 15, 1976 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Producer, Voice-Over Artist, Gabriel Iglesias (Gabriel J. Iglecias) known professionally as Fluffy was born in San Diego, California.
Like most successful comedians, Iglesias came from a poor background. He was raised by a single mother along with his five siblings in Section 8 housing. When he was old enough to work he got a job at a cell phone company. When he thought about giving comedy a try of course his family tried to talk him out of it. Stay at the job for security. Don’t risk it. Where will you be able to get another job at a cell phone company? He tried to do both and like most successful comedians, failed. Comedy requires concentration. So in 1997 he left his job, lost his car and got evicted.
Iglesias stuck to his guns. He struggled on the circuit in the San Gabriel Valley, L. A. and Inland Empire and made a name for himself. With his signature Hawaiian shirt and infectious smile, Iglesias built a formidable fan base. It was increased when he appeared on Nickelodeon’s All That with Nick Cannon. In 2006 he was finalist on Last Comic Standing, but got eliminated for smuggling in a Blackberry against the rules and not for comedy related reasons. Other standup shows he performed on were Premium Blend, Comedy Central Presents, Live at Gotham and Just for Laughs.
Gabriel Iglesias has had a fine film career (El Matador, Magic Mike, A Haunted House 2, Magic Mike XXL), television (My Wife and Kids) and a healthy Internet presence. He loves to do voice-over work and he’s has the pleasure on Family Guy, The Emperor’s New School, Planes, The Nut Job, El Americano: The Movie, The Book of Life, Norm of the North, The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange and Blazing Samurai.
Over the course of his career, Iglesias released three albums and scored big with his specials, Gabriel Iglesias: I’m Not Fat . . . I’m Fluffy, Hot and Fluffy Aloha Fluffy: Parts 1 and 2. Comedy Central is the home of his highly acclaimed show, Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution. His reality show on Fuse TV is entitled, Fluffy Breaks Even.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 14, 2006, Little Man was released by Columbia Pictures.
This film is a labor of love by the Wayans Family. Keenan Ivory Wayans co-produced it, co-wrote it and directed it. Brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans co-produced it, co-wrote it and co-starred in it. And in the pivotal co-co-co-starring role of the Officer Wilson – Damien Dante Wayans. Other non-Wayans members of the cast are David Alan Grier, Molly Shannon, Uriel Garcia, Brittany Daniel, Lochlyn Munro, Kelly Coffield, Dave Sheridan, Fred Stoller, Alex Borstein, Rob Schneider and John Witherspoon.
The story revolves around a dwarf of a jewel thief who heists a priceless diamond (aren’t they all in the movies? There’s never a retail price) and before getting busted with it he stashes it in the purse of an innocent citizen (Kerry Washington) and now has to get it back. Retrieving means going to her home, discovering she and her husband (Shawn Wayans) want a baby and masquerading as a baby to get inside.
Once in Wayans does his best to find the diamond, but his attentive parents are always in his face. He tries to get help from his partner in crime (Tracy Morgan), but he’s already been approached by the local gangster (Chazz Palminteri) who knows the score and wants the priceless diamond. And as if that wasn’t enough, none of the couple’s friends or relatives think Wayans is an adorable baby. Maybe not, but when everything swirls out of control it’s baby Wayans who saves himself, his ‘parents’ and gets the gangster jailed.
All ends happily ever after. The baby Wayans (now an admitted criminal) gets to hang out with the couple and play games in the park with his ‘parents’, who now have a newborn who looks like daddy and not Baby Wayans (who also got some booty from the wife).
The critics didn’t care for Little Man, but when have the Wayans ever cared about critics. Bottom-line – on a budget of $64 million Little Man grossed $101.595,121 million at the worldwide box office.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on July 12, 1959 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Voice-Over Artist, Charles Quinton “Charlie” Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Charlie Murphy got started in comedy after a short jail stint as a minor, followed immediately by a six-year stint in the US Navy. During this period his younger brother, Eddie had become a star and when Charlie came to town the first thing casting agents wanted was an Eddie Murphy look alike. They soon found out after a lot of four letter words, that Charlie was nobody’s look alike. He didn’t have to be – he was funny.
Murphy took comedy seriously and got into standup, working out in small spots to hone his craft. However ,there was no need to squander his in born celebrity so while getting good enough to use the title of ‘standup comedian’, Murphy acted in films: Harlem Nights, Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever, CB4, King’s Ransom, The Players Club, Roll Bounce, Night at the Museum, Paper Soldiers (which he wrote), Norbit (which he co-wrote with Eddie), The Perfect Holiday, Lottery Ticket, Meet the Blacks and others. He wrote songs for the hip hop group, K-9 Posse and was the executive producer of their debut album and his television credits include Martin, One on One, Wild ‘n Out, Are We There Yet? and Black Jesus
Charlie Murphy became a public celebrity when he was featured on Chappelle’s Show. He tapped into the public’s thirst for Hollywood gossip with his Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories, where he would regal the audience with pre-taped sketches of his adventures with stars, most popularly Rick James and Prince. The show was a surprise hit and Murphy was credited as part of the reason for its success. So when Dave Chappelle left his own show and Comedy Central made the decision to broadcast the remaining footage without Chappelle’s participation, it was Charlie Murphy and fellow cast member, Donnell Rawlings who got the call to host those shows. They came to be known as The Lost Episodes, but the only thing lost was the opportunity for more Chappelle’s Show. It was over and Murphy moved on.
Charlie Murphy toured the nation as a standup comedian – solo and as part of packaged celebrity comedian tours. He had his own sketch comedy show on Crackle called Charlie Murphy’s Crash Comedy and a Comedy Central standup special, Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize. Besides his work in front of the camera and on the road, Murphy has been heard providing voices for The Boondocks, Thugaboo and Grand Theft Auto. And he not only wrote Paper Soldiers and Norbit, Murphy also penned Vampire in Brooklyn, which starred his brother Eddie and Angela Bassett.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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Detectives Burnett and Lowery’s new case has an official name.
Sony has titled Bad Boys 3 as Bad Boys For Life, EW confirmed. The name change comes with the project moving closer to reality with a Jan. 12, 2018 release in mind, a source tells EW.
The new title is a fitting throwback to 2003’s Bad Boys II where star Will Smith tells his cop partner Martin Lawrence, “We ride together, we die together. Bad boys for life.” (See the clip, below.) The two will reprise the roles they debuted in 1995’s Bad Boys — Michael Bay directed that movie and the sequel. The Grey’s Joe Carnahan is in the director’s chair for Bad Boys For Life, not Bay.
FX will premiere Donald Glover’s much-anticipated “Atlanta” on Tuesday, September 6 at 10pm, unfolding over a 10-episode first season, each a half-hour long, revolving around two cousins on their way up through the Atlanta rap scene whose opposing views on art versus commerce, success and race, will make their quest anything but easy.
Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Lee Stanfield and Zazie Beetz all join Glover in the series.
Finally, FX has dropped a full trailer after numerous 10 to 15 second teasers. Although the full trailer is a still only a minute long, and includes some footage we’ve already seen in the previous teasers. Regardless, it’s the first official as FX is calling it, so watch it below. And if you missed the previously-released teasers, you’ll find them underneath the trailer.
Source: Shadow & Act
One of the hottest places for comedy right now is Atlanta and last night was no exception as over 30 local comedians recorded audition sets for Russell Simmons All Def Digital hour special. There are so many talented comics in Atlanta that one night is not enough to feature all of those worthy of a shot at a much-coveted television appearance (second round will be held on August 17th).
As I took a few moments to interview the majority of the comics that were taping there was plenty of anxious, nervous energy from the newer comics and a quiet confidence from the more seasoned veterans. Auditions were taped in front of a sold out, live audience and the energy of the crowd kept going as each of the comedians gave their best 4 minutes. Comedienne Ms. B is no stranger to taping in front of a live audience you can see her on season 2 of Bounce TV’s Off the Chain. She opened the show and proudly spotlights her Haitian roots whenever she hits the stage. Backstage I was able to get a few moments with the host of the show, Cory “Zooman” Miller, whose first television appearance was on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam. Miller credits Russell Simmons not only with giving him TV credits but also inspiring him to practice yoga. He demonstrated a few poses for me as he joked about doing yoga in the bank so that he didn’t have an altercation with the teller that was taking too long to cash his check. Comedian/actor Rod Minger, who recently appeared on an episode of Survivor’s Remorse on Starz, said he was responsible for setting the tone as he was going up early on the roster.
While most of the comics I interviewed kept it light there was a serious moment with Comedienne Dirty South as she talked with me about her over 17 years of doing comedy and how she was there for a shot at redemption. Dirty South says this time around she won’t let drug use get in the way of her career. A somber moment that passed quickly as she always makes light of any issues she’s had. I sat down with Kareem “Plug” Chapman, a name you may not know yet but you will, he will be featured on Kevin Hart’s new Comedy Central series coming in the fall/winter of 2016. He said, “It’s another night of work for me.” That sentiment was echoed by comedian/actor Hank Denson as we chatted about his career and how he’s had some videos go viral (over 6.3 million views) and created some trending hashtags #thejokedealer and #payteachersmoremoney. You can see him show off his acting chops in the latest installment of the Barbershop series, Barbershop 3: The Next Cut. He was humble as he thanked Atlanta Comedy Theater for providing the opportunity to keep putting Atlanta on the map as a place where your comedy career can take off. With entirely too many amazing and aspiring comedians in the building to mention them all basically, as Andre 3000 said 20 years ago, “The South got something to say.” It was about hip hop then, it’s about comedy now.
While most of the comics I interviewed kept it light there was a serious moment with Comedienne Dirty South as she talked with me about her over 17 years of doing comedy and how she was there for a shot at redemption. Dirty South says this time around she won’t let drug use get in the way of her career. A somber moment that passed quickly as she always makes light of any issues she’s had. I sat down with Kareem “Plug” Chapman, a name you may not know yet but you will, he will be featured on Kevin Hart’s new Comedy Central series coming in the fall/winter of 2016. He said, “It’s another night of work for me.” That sentiment was echoed by comedian/actor Hank Denson as we chatted about his career and how he’s had some videos go viral (over 6.3 million views) and created some trending hashtags #thejokedealer and #payteachersmoremoney. You can see him show off his acting chops in the latest installment of the Barbershop series, Barbershop 3: The Next Cut. He was humble as he thanked Atlanta Comedy Theater for providing the opportunity to keep putting Atlanta on the map as a place where your comedy career can take off. With entirely too many amazing and aspiring comedians in the building to mention them all basically, as Andre 3000 said 20 years ago, “The South got something to say.” It was about hip hop then, it’s about comedy now.
By Alithfya “Leele” Fraction
“The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” will call it a day after Thursday’s episode.
Comedy Central has canceled the half-hour series that replaced “The Colbert Report” on Jan. 19, 2015, making “Nightly” the first of the recent wave of late-night newcomers to shutter.
Wilmore informed his staff of the cabler’s decision Monday afternoon.
In the near term, Comedy Central will slide Chris Hardwick’s pop culture quiz show “@Midnight” to the 11:30 p.m. slot that follows “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”
Comedy Central president Kent Alterman said the decision was made because “Nightly” had failed to gain ratings traction with the cabler’s core demo of young adults, nor were there positive signs for the show in key social media metrics. Alterman made a point of praising Wilmore and the distinctive approach he brought to commenting on the day’s news.
“We hold Larry in the highest esteem, personally and professionally. He brought a strong voice and point of view to the late-night landscape,” Alterman told Variety. “Unfortunately it hasn’t resonated with our audience.”
Alterman called it a “business decision” to pull the plug.
“We’ve been monitoring it closely as for a year and a half now and we haven’t seen the signs we need in ratings or in consumption on digital platforms. We’ve been been hoping it would grow,” Alterman said.
Wilmore didn’t hide his disappointment in having to bring the show to an abrupt end this week, particularly before the climax of the presidential race that has yielded so much material.
“I’m really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunity,” Wilmore said in a statement. “But I’m also saddened and surprised we won’t be covering this crazy election or ‘The Unblackening’ as we’ve coined it. And keeping it 100, I guess I hadn’t counted on ‘The Unblackening’ happening to my time slot as well.”
Comedy Central is developing a project with “Daily Show” contributor Jordan Klepper that could be a potential successor to “Nightly” in the post-“Daily Show” slot. But Alterman said it was unlikely that any new program would be set before the start of the year.
“The next step is to open our doors to aggressive development in late night,” he said. They may well consider shows that are a departure from the “Colbert” and “Nightly” format focusing on topical news.
“We’re open to novel, creative, interesting ideas,” Alterman said. “I wouldn’t anticipate it being a scripted show. It needs to feel a part of our late-night landscape. But we’re very open and excited by the idea of someone we’re not even thinking about coming in the door. We’re really just trying to be open-minded about all possibilities.” Those possibilities include “@Midnight” earning its way to taking over the 11:30 p.m. timeslot on a permanent basis, he said.
Wilmore had been a regular presence on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” for years before Comedy Central tapped him in May 2014 to fill the void left by Stephen Colbert’s departure for CBS. Wilmore’s show, which bowed a month after Colbert’s sign off in December 2014, was originally titled “Minority Report with Larry Wilmore” but changed its moniker because the Fox network had a drama series in the works with the same title (based on the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie).
From the beginning, Wilmore brought an analytical as well as comedic spin to the day’s headlines. The show included a regular roundtable segment that featuring a mix of comedians, pundits, journalists and newsmakers discussing generally weighty subjects. Those segments were praised for offering a clear-eyed take on social, cultural and political issues that went beyond one-liners or the shouting matches found in other news roundtable shows. Wilmore also drew strong reviews for his commentary on racial politicking in the presidential race and horrifying acts of violence, from the slayings in San Bernardino, Calif., last year to the recent string of racially charged police shooting incidents.
“Nightly Show” premiered less than a month before Stewart announced his plan to step down as “Daily Show” host. Wilmore opened to nearly 1 million viewers but didn’t sustain that audience. After Stewart bowed out on Aug. 6, 2015, “Nightly Show” struggled with the smaller lead-in as Noah took the reins from Stewart.
In the past few months, “Daily Show” has seen an uptick particularly among the younger viewers that matter most to Comedy Central. In the second quarter of this year, “Daily Show” averaged 278,000 viewers in the adults 18-34 demo, second only to NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (364,000). “Nightly Show” averaged 153,000 viewers in that demo.
Given the importance of “Daily Show” franchise to Comedy Central, it’s no surprise that the cabler would devote more energy and resources to promoting Noah rather than “Nightly.”
Alterman hailed Wilmore and his production team for their willingness to be collaborative and to experiment with the show.
“We applaud Larry and his team for evolving the show,” he said. “They created a community of contributors who were doing great comedy bits that were seamlessly woven into the show. As much as we thought ‘Nightly’ was evolving creatively it just wasn’t resonating with our audience.”
As the curtain falls on “Nightly,” Wilmore’s immediate focus will be on his work as a writer and showrunner, which took a backseat to his “Nightly” hosting and producing duties during the past 20 months. Wilmore is juggling numerous projects at present. He’s the co-creator and exec producer with Issa Rae of the upcoming HBO comedy “Insecure,” and he was instrumental in the launch of ABC’s “Black-ish” in the 2014-15 season.
Source: Variety
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes one unforgettable honeymoon.
Just two days after exchanging vows in front of family and friends near Santa Barbara, Calif., Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish traveled to St. Barts to celebrate their new relationship status.
In new pictures posted onto Instagram, fans got a taste of their getaway as they walked along the ocean blue water in their swimsuits.
“#MrAndMrsHart #stbarths #DopePic #HoneymoonSwag,” Kevin shared on Instagram. Eniko added, “We’re here.. Jus kickin’ it. #HARTS.”
The groom also gave fans a tour of his temporary new digs on Snapchat where he assured fans that lots of fun is about to go down.
“Let the honeymoon begin. Me and my wife are officially out here. We are about to god damn f–k St. Barts up,” he proclaimed. “That’s what we gonna do. This villa is huge. I’ll tell you what. I’m about to have sex in every room in here.” Oh, here we go!
“The fun has just begin The adventures of the Harts,” he continued. “Hey baby, can I ask you one question? What’s your last name?” Eniko replied, “Hart honey, H-a-r-t.”
Before kicking off their sexy getaway, guests including Khloe Kardashian, Ludacris and Dwyane Wade watched the couple say “I Do” up in Northern California. The bride wore custom Vera Wang Bride while Kevin and his son sported Musika Frére.
“Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this,” Eniko shared on social media after the magical ceremony. “Babe we did it, you are officially my husband. Ahhh!”
Truth Be Told star Tone Bell has been cast as a series regular opposite Kathy Bates in Disjointed, Netflix’s pot-themed workplace multi-camera comedy from Chuck Lorre, former Daily Show head writer David Javerbaum and Warner Bros. TV.
Written and executive produced by Lorre and Javerbaum, Disjointed, which has a 20-episode straight-to-series order, stars Bates as Ruth, a lifelong advocate for legalization who’s finally living her dream as the owner of an L.A.-area cannabis dispensary. Joining her are three budtenders, her twenty-something son and a deeply troubled security guard. All of them are more or less constantly high.
Bell will play Carter, the new security guard at Ruth’s dispensary, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan. Dougie Baldwin and Jessica Lu were recently cast as budtenders.
Bell, who recently did an arc on The Flash, is repped by Innovative Artists, Black Box Management and attorney Robby Koch at Hansen Jacobson.
Source:Deadline
On this day in comedy on July 13, 1946 Comedian, Actor, Writer, Voice-Over Artist, Richard Anthony “Cheech” Marin was born in Los Angeles, California.
Marin is a pioneer of stoner comedy along with his partner, Tommy Chong. Together they made up the team of Cheech and Chong. The name Cheech came from chicharrons. Why? Because when Mexicans get high they satisfy the munchies with – chicharrons. (We don’t make up the stereotypes we only report them). Marin’s dad was a cop, but when the possibility that the Vietnam War could enter into the world of young Cheech, he hightailed it up to Canada to avoid the draft; where he met Chong, who was a resident. Chong was a musician who’d had a band with a couple of hits records and had opened a popular night club in Vancouver. The problem was the more business got into Chong’s musical career the less it was a career. When he met Marin in 1968 the timing was ripe.
Cheech and Chong were a cultural phenomenon; catching lightning in a bottle by being on the crest and sometimes leading the love-of-cannabis movement. They came along between the Summer of Love and Woodstock and were to weed what Snoop Dogg is to weed, but before him. The standup comedy material they performed on stage talked about smoking weed. The albums the released talked about smoking weed. The movies they made (except for one) showed them smoking weed. It was branding at its best.
Even a good high comes to an end and thus Cheech and Chong broke up in 1985. They’d made 7 films (Chong directed four of them) and recorded 8 albums; the most popular being 1978’s Up in Smoke. There had been creative differences and Marin was itching to jumpstart a solo acting career so it was time; even if it wasn’t it became time.
Cheech Marin’s breakout film was Born in East L. A. It was a hit and he went on to appear in Fatal Beauty, The Shrimp on the Barbie, Ghostbusters II, Tin Cup, A Million to Juan, Desperado, The Great White hype, Christmas with The Kranks, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Far Out Man, From Dusk Till Dawn, Spy Kids and The Book of Life just to name several. On the television front Marin co-starred on the Golden Palace, Nash Bridges with Don Johnson, Judging Amy and Rob Schneider’s Rob. He had a recurring role on Lost, hosted Latino Laugh Festival and did a slew of guest-starring on sitcoms.
Marin became a noted voice-over artist. He’s been featured in The Lion King, Oliver & Company, Car, Car2, It’s Tough to Be a Bug and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Blazing Dragons, South Park, Dora the Explorer, Hoodwinked, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Pinocchio, The Simpsons and Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie.
Cheech Marin is a prime example of reinvention. The former counter-culture comedian has been on mainstream game shows competing against mainstream celebrities. The former munchies man was on a reality show on the Food Network of all places; cooking, not eating. His career did so much of a 180 that Marin, once a tutu wearing, mind-altered rocker released two children’s albums and a book based on his wholesome creation, Cheech, The School Bus Driver.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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