Brooklyn Mutt

h/t @MikeNizza

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:31:00 -0400

h/t @MikeNizza

storyboard: Lady Comics: Who Needs Late Night? We’ve Got...

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:16:19 -0400

Lady Comics: Who Needs Late Night? We’ve Got Tumblr

If you ask a female comedian how social media has impacted her professional life, she will likely respond like Elaine Carroll. “Social media has made my career,” says Carroll, the 30-year-old creator of the Very Mary Kate web series, a spoof of Mary Kate Olsen’s glam life in New York.

Remember just a few years back, when comedians (of any gender) relentlessly chased guest spots at the feet of David Letterman and Jay Leno? Getting a gig on late night was the ultimate career boost, but women comedians had to fight through the prejudices both professional (like infamously misogynist Letterman booker Eddie Brill) and cultural (let’s all try to forget that Christopher Hitchens essay).

But the level playing field of Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr means no one gets between ambitious talent and a potentially receptive audience. All it takes is perseverance, ability, skill, and infinite patience.

“Social media has essentially become my career,” says Kate Spencer, an improv instructor and writer at VH1 who blogs on Tumblr.

Consider Ilana Glazer, a New York comedy writer who, when she and writing partner Abbi Jacobson didn’t make it into the improv groups they wanted at Upright Citizens Brigade, decided to take their brand of girl-centric comedy to the web.

“We said, ‘Eff this, we’re going to make material for ourselves,’” enthuses Glazer, the co-creator of the Broad City web series.

That was 2009. The duo now have a deal with FX.

“In the old days, if you got a spot on Carson, your life changed forever,” says Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, who blogs at the Huffington Post. “That’s not true anymore. Do we even need those shows? I don’t think we do.”

Women still represent just a fraction of writers on late-night comedy programs, and they only represent 8 percent of directors of Hollywood films. Any female comic knows the comedy industry is rife with sexism.

But social media has opened up ways around these traditional paths. A sampling of a dozen women comedians offered up Tumblr and Twitter presences that have become huge in the comedy world — not just as side gigs, but as major marketing tools for these ladies’ work.

“Social media has done the same thing for women comedians as it’s done for other movements — it’s given women a way to know they’re not alone,” says Asie Mohtarez, a New York comedian and blogger. “What it does for me is provide daily evidence of women doing it — making weird/crude jokes (gasp), videos, and other content, which I find inspiring and freeing.”

There are plenty of other examples. Late Night’s Amy Ozols and Chelsea Lately’s Jen Kirkman have become social media standard-bearers in the comedy world, getting credit for their work in the public sphere. Last year, when The Office’s Mindy Kaling set out to promote her book, she used Tumblr to do it. And Whitney Cummings combined social media and dirty jokes about Bob Saget to get a prime-time show on NBC.

But for up-and-coming comics, those outlets can be even more important. “On the internet, no one can limit you, ” Glazer says. For her, that meant constant positive reinforcement of her work, and eventually, a mainstream gig.

She joined the likes of author Mariam Kobras, who used her Twitter following to land a book deal she said had “no agent interference, no rejections, no waiting. Or Allie Hagan, a Washington consultant by day and comedian by night, who turned her Suri’s Burn Book Tumblr into a publishing contract.

“I’ve gotten several freelance gigs based on Twitter and Tumblr, and I think that’s how a lot of people find me for live stuff,” says Julieanne Smolinski, a columnist for XOJane.com. “I’ve done a couple storytelling shows and some podcasts. I am also willing to do quinceañeras and that thing where you go to high schools and tell people not to be like you.”

And, of course, Elaine Carroll of Very Mary Kate, who got a deal with College Humor after producing the series out of pocket. And then got cast on Mad Men. ”There will always be hecklers and Youtube commenter types,” Carroll says of doing comedy on the web. “But the process of something going viral is contingent on it being good. It isn’t based on gender or race or sexual orientation. If your idea is good enough (or weird enough, or contains enough cats jumping into boxes), it won’t be ignored — even if you’re a female lesbian lady woman.”

As Mohtarez puts it: “My Tumblr has helped me hone my odd and sometimes dark sense of humor, and to find a little audience for it in between reblogged photos of other people’s breakfasts and titties.”

- Alex Leo

(Photo courtesy of Ilana Glazer, at left, with Abbi Jacobson, on the set of Broad City)

"My endorsement evolved."

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:53:00 -0400

“My endorsement evolved.”

- Herman Cain - @Lindsey_CBSNJ

via @_mikehayes: RT @MicheleWalk

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:46:00 -0400

via @_mikehayes: RT @MicheleWalk

"In high school Mitt Romney would knock kids down, steal their lunch money and send it to the Cayman..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:47:00 -0400

“In high school Mitt Romney would knock kids down, steal their lunch money and send it to the Cayman Islands.””

- David Letterman -@politicoroger

msnbc: Backwards Beatles! A rare image headed for auction is...

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:11:45 -0400

msnbc:

Backwards Beatles! A rare image headed for auction is one of just six taken during a 10-minute photoshoot of the Fab Four outside Abbey Road studios in St. John’s Wood, northwest London. The photo is expected to fetch up to $14,000 when it’s offered on May 22.

Image: Capitol Records

shawnblog: burnworks: kudo solar-powered iPad case I actually...

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:22:33 -0400

shawnblog:

burnworks:

kudo solar-powered iPad case

I actually need this. I used my iPad outdoors about 98% of the time. Where can I get this for an iPad 1?

The Comedian Comedians Were Afraid Of Patrice O’Neal didn’t just...

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:19:01 -0400

The Comedian Comedians Were Afraid Of

Patrice O’Neal didn’t just want to be famous, he wanted to be as good as Richard Pryor. To hear his fellow comics tell it, he was—a brutal truth-teller who spared no one, starting with those closest to him.

Read: New York Magazine

anticapitalist: Our real first gay president The new issue...

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:08:21 -0400

anticapitalist:

Our real first gay president

The new issue of Newsweek features a cover photo of President Obama topped by a rainbow-colored halo and captioned “The First Gay President.” The halo and caption strike me as cheap sensationalism. I realize airport travelers look at a magazine for 2.2 seconds before moving on to the next one. I grant that this cover will probably get Newsweek a 4.4 second glance. I also understand that Newsweek is desperate for sales. Nevertheless, I doubt that the Newsweek of old, before it was sold for a dollar, would have pandered as shallowly.

The caption is a superficial way to characterize an important development of thought that the president — along with the country — has been making over recent years. It is also entirely wrong. Like the mini-furor a couple of months back about the claim that Richard Nixon was our first gay president, the story simply ignores that the U.S. already had a gay president more than a century ago.

There can be no doubt that James Buchanan was gay, before, during and after his four years in the White House. Moreover, the nation knew it, too — he was not far into the closet.

Today, I know no historian who has studied the matter and thinks Buchanan was heterosexual. Fifteen years ago, historian John Howard, author of “Men Like That,” a pioneering study of queer culture in Mississippi, shared with me the key documents, including Buchanan’s May 13, 1844, letter to a Mrs. Roosevelt. Describing his deteriorating social life after his great love, William Rufus King, senator from Alabama, had moved to Paris to become our ambassador to France, Buchanan wrote:

I am now “solitary and alone,” having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.

"I’m for Mitt Romney."

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:06:18 -0400

“I’m for Mitt Romney.”

- Former President George W. Bush endorsed Mitt Romney, ABC News reports.

Worth more than a 1000 words.
(via liberalsarecool)

Mitt Likes Music, Including This The Gregory Brothers present a...

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:51:36 -0400

Mitt Likes Music, Including This

The Gregory Brothers present a musical video mash-up about what Mitt Romney likes — from lakes and trees to music and cars to grits and “Twilight.”

The New York Times

“Just a Barnard grad excited to see Obama.” -...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:34:20 -0400

“Just a Barnard grad excited to see Obama.” - @BuzzFeed

celob: Beastie Boys - Dad remakes the Beastie’s Sabotage...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:27:42 -0400

celob:

Beastie Boys - Dad remakes the Beastie’s Sabotage video…with his kids. Awesome.

The Romney campaign's new Tumblr - GST STEEL

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:08:00 -0400

The Romney campaign's new Tumblr - GST STEEL

the-mtblog: On TV Tonight: Johnny Carson: King of Late Night...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:06:56 -0400

the-mtblog:

On TV Tonight:

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (PBS - 9PM EST)

Photo: Arthur Schatz/LIFE (June 1967 - New York City)

Photo

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:42:33 -0400

"I kissed her breasts and nipples, as there was no place for my face to go,” the undercover..."

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:38:51 -0400

““I kissed her breasts and nipples, as there was no place for my face to go,” the undercover detective wrote in his report of a 2011 vice sting.”

- The Salt Lake City Civilian Review Board found problems with how city vice detectives investigate prostitution and sexual or illegal massages. The problems were one reason that Chief Chris Burbank disbanded the vice unit earlier this year and reassigned its detectives.

Read: The Salt Lake Tribune

“Man’s best friend” can also be...

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:59:59 -0400

“Man’s best friend” can also be “World’s best photobomber”

(Mail Online)

"this is my second time here. I just have to much to do to roam around stuff like this. It seems like..."

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:55:27 -0400

“this is my second time here. I just have to much to do to roam around stuff like this. It seems like a great thing. I just can’t do it. I killed my facebook page years ago because time clicking around is just dead time. Your brain isn’t resting and it isn’t doing. I think people have to get their heads around this thing. All this unmitigated input is hurting folks. My opinion.”

- Comedian Louis C.K. • Offering his opinion on Reddit (and similar social services) during an IAmA event promoting his newest comedy specials … on Reddit. Gotta love the brutal honesty. (via shortformblog)

TNW: Redditor huitlacoche said it best:

“Louis CK: Insults reddit while using reddit, gets upvoted by reddit.”

shortformblog: filmgirl: Meme of the Year Nominees (Taken with...

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:07:48 -0400

shortformblog:

filmgirl:

Meme of the Year Nominees (Taken with instagram)

Hey everybody, do Stacy and Adam a favor and vote for Texts From Hillary for the “Meme of the Year” Webby award!