The Innovative Comedian

I was never really all that into stand-up comedy until I recently discovered the hilarious Amy Schumer. She made her big debut about 4 years ago on the Comedy Central show, Last Comic Standing. Although she is a recent sensation, I first became introduced to Amy Schumer last semester when I was in Los Angeles. My good friend, Diana showed me one of her skits and I was instantly hooked.

Schumer is what I like to call a filterless comedian. She is known for her subversive feminism commentary and touches on some very sensitive subjects. Direct quote from her: “I enjoy playing the girl who time to time, says the dumbest things possible…” This may come across as an ignorant quote but Schumer’s ability to go against the grain of what’s acceptable actually works in her favor a lot of the time. Not that this is anything new for comedians, but Schumer has a very unique way of making her points that we actually tend to encounter on a daily basis. For example, one of my favorite Amy Schumer skits is titled, “I’m so bad.” This skit depicts several beautiful young women, sitting around a table enjoying lunch. It is commentary on women who deal with petty, individualistic problems when there are much bigger issues going on. Here are some examples that come up in the skit, “I was cyber-bullying my niece on Instagram the other day and I literally ate fifteen mini muffins, I’m so bad.” or, “The other morning, when that woman walked off the GW bridge, I didn’t do anything to help her, because I was chewing my calzone. I’m so bad!” As I said - Schumer is a filterless and what some would consider an offensive comedian, however her humor is definitely something unique and rings true to a lot of what we see today.

This past summer, Amy Schumer came out with her own movie titled, Trainwreck. This film definitely captures her notorious humor but also hits on a deeper level. It depicts her life as a promiscuous young women afraid of monogamy because her father told her so. The film follows her romantic life and the struggles she faces, when she starts to fall in love with a nerdy sports doctor. What I like about this film is that it is different from what I am used to. I always saw Schumer as a hilarious comedian but her ability to develop a story arc and make us feel emotions as an audience gives me a lot of respect for her as a storyteller. As a semi-new comedian, she is about as successful as she can be and I can’t wait to see what kind of innovative ideas she comes up with next.

ALSO LOOK AT HOW 90'S THIS JON STEWART IS

I have to repost this video for you all, because I need a second post and this is actually extremely hilarious.

If you're like me, you're a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Granted, you might not have as much in common with the host of the universally acclaimed satire show, such as a dark and receding hairline, biting wit, or the short and wiry stature of Moishe the Frail Bagel Store Owner. But you do enjoy his Monday-to-Thursday beatdowns of everything wrong in the media, hypocritical in politics, or just bizarre in the world. Last night on the show he lampooned every part of Herman Cain's farewell speech, from his admission of using Pokemon lyrics to his shenanigans driving up to the podium. It was classic. Watch it with your eyes.

But the Jon Stewart we know now is vastly different from a Jon Stewart in Jon Stewart's past. Take a look at this, for example:

Look at that set! And look at Jon's black leather jacket! And what is baby-faced Conan O'Brien wearing? Is that a plaid flannel over a black shirt? Yes! This must be... oh man! Oh God! This must be the 1990s! This is actually 1994, back when Jon had a show on MTV called (uninterestingly) The Jon Stewart Show. It was actually a competitor to Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and as you can tell one beat out the other. But can you blame Conan for beating out Jon back then? Seriously, look at that set design! What were they thinking?

Of course, we all know that Jon and Conan are on amicable terms. That is, unless you discount the mock feud between them and Colbert in 2007. That was funny.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys. Also, the fact that Jon's head of hair has receded and turned gray since this video is making me queasy about the future of my own head. Don't leave me, beautiful hairline.

'Epic Meal Time:' Paving the way for internet-to-television success, one bacon strip at a time

"We make your dreams come true, and then we eat them."

Epic Meal Time is doing what a lot of us wish we could do: get paid to eat food, guzzle booze, and make television.

For those of you unaware of the Youtube sensation, Epic Meal Time is an extreme cooking show that features extraordinary meat-laden meals, covered in bacon, and soaked in alcohol. If Jackass and Man V. Food had a baby, this would be it. The show was co-created by host and narrator Harley Morenstein and cameraman Sterling Toth. From its tender beginnings, a video in which they create a fast-food pizza, the team of rowdy, drunken college kids make monstrous concoctions that push the boundaries on caloric intake and blood-alcohol levels. Take a look at this fan-favorite, "Chili Four Loko:"



The show was an instant success, the first video grabbing 100,000 views. Soon after, the show was featured on multiple big-name viral trending sites (like buzzfeed), signed up with Youtube for their own channel, and snagged the 2011 Shorty Award in the Food Category. After they established themselves as a web show that was going to stick around with the statistics to prove it, the guys signed on with two talent agencies, The Gersh Agency and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, and an internet television network, Revision3. As of February of this year, the rumor is that Epic Meal Time is currently being pitched as a long-form television show to major TV bigwigs, including Comedy Central, Spike TV, and the Discovery Channel.

While we as soon-to-be television/radio graduates may be screwed when it comes to landing jobs due to the current economic crisis, websites like Youtube are rays of sunshine peaking through the dark, debt-ridden clouds of the future. Networks are turning more and more to amateur works on social media websites for new television ideas. Current TV is a viewer-generated television channel that often features works from Youtube and Vimeo. Although these next two productions are, in my opinion, deplorable and obnoxious, they did both start as poorly-made Youtube videos. Fred, a show about the life of an annoying teenager, was picked up by Nickelodeon and made into a feature film. The Annoying Orange, an animated series featuring a whiny orange with a mouth and eyes, is getting the chance to film six episodes, directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek) and written by Tom Sheppard (Pinky and the Brain), to be given to Nickelodeon.

Beyond TV, student and amateur filmmakers around the world are being discovered via the internet. The future is looking good for our generation of film and TV makers. If Fred can land a gig with Nickelodeon, anything is possible.

--------------------

Epic Meal Time deleted scenes:

--------------------

To read more, try these links:
Men gone wild -with food - canada.com
A Chat With Epic Meal Time: YouTube Gets Wrapped In Bacon - forbes.com
YouTube hit Epic Meal Time cooking a TV show - insidetv.ew.com
Epic Meal Time - cracked.com
Interview: Epic Meal Time: A Bunch of Dude, Just Making it Happen - eater.com
Canadian YouTube hit Epic Meal Time headed to TV - nationalpost.com