Tuned In

HBO Comedy Roundup: Apples and Kiwis

I’m starting to think that Flight of the Conchords has defined a category: the story-proof comedy. Last night’s episode by rights should not have been any good. There was a weak premise. (Bret and Jemaine get discriminated against for being New Zealanders by a fruit vendor–by the way, did I miss it or was there [...]

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Tom Snyder, 1936-2007: Punk Rock Talk

Tomorrow show host Tom Snyder died this weekend at age 71. Snyder’s heyday was before my time–at least, before my staying-up-past-midnight time–so I’m not going to pretend to have extensive, fond memories of the man who pioneered the late-late night talk slot before David Letterman. But the few times I did catch Snyder’s show was [...]

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JFC Watch: A Wizard Did It?

HBO photo: John P. Johnson With two episodes remaining in the season, I’m going to try to observe a moratorium on the overall question of whether John from Cincinnati is good or bad. Masterpiece or disaster, genius or folly, I’m into it too deep now; it’s either building toward something at the end of the [...]