I’ve got a post almost ready to go, but it’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Today, I draw your attention to this news item:
‘Talkshow’ back for more
Fox has picked up its Saturday late-night comedy “Talkshow With Spike Feresten” for a second season.
Additionally the network is in talks to bring back sketch comedy show “Mad TV” for a 13th season, but sources said that the two sides remain far apart.
“Talkshow,” hosted by former “Seinfeld” writer Spike Feresten, will continue to air in the midnight-12:30 a.m. time period, unless a new deal for “Mad TV” is not reached.
“Spike has shown himself to be a unique voice in the late night comedy field and his show presents a refreshing alternative to the format,” said Todd Yasui, Fox’s senior vp late-night programming. “We’re looking forward to watching him continue to grow as a performer…”
“In Spike Feresten, we found that wonderful, rare combination of an original voice, comedic pedigree and likability,” said Holly Jacobs, executive vp alternative development at FtvS. “We greatly appreciate Fox’s support of the show and are thrilled that ‘Talkshow’ will have the opportunity to continue to entertain and build the late-night audience.”
In its most recent airing, “Talkshow,” which follows “Mad TV,” ranked second in its time period among adults 18-34. It is executive produced by Feresten and Mike Gibbons.
That’s right, we’re back. Though work won’t commence for a couple of months yet, it’s time for some self-congratulations here. I’m excited - working on that show is an amazing (if exhausting) experience, and I feel like the tiny crew of the S.S. Feresten accomplished some great things on our maiden voyage. I can’t wait to really crank up the volume this year.
With that in mind, and a certain recent 50th anniversary, I give you an encore presentation of one of my favorite bits from last year, “Horrifyingly Sexy Larry King.”
Wow. It still hurts my brain to look at that.
[Interesting side note: Late last season, we had the model who played Larry’s body back in the studio to do a different piece (one that involved her real face, which doesn’t look very much like Mr. King’s, believe it or not…). She told me that her husband absolutely loved the Larry King piece, thought it was one of the funniest things he’d seen in a long time, etc. I was flattered, heart-warmed, and profoundly disturbed by this…]
Fanny Roborat
19 comments
nato
May 8, 2007 at 10:52 am
1How about showing her face to the rest of us so we can try envisioning it with her body, rather than clawing our eyes out over the image of Larry King’s face on her body? Pretty please?
waterfowler
May 8, 2007 at 11:08 am
2Just as disturbing as Electric Lincoln. If I still smoked dope, it would probably be funny.
Steve
May 8, 2007 at 11:28 am
3You should’ve gotten Harry Shearer to do the voice:
http://play.rbn.com/foo.ram?url=livecon/kcrw/g2demand/ls/ls060716le_Sh ow.rm&start=47:33&proto=rtsp
http://play.rbn.com/foo.ram?url=livecon/kcrw/g2demand/ls/ls070415le_Sh ow_-_April_15.rm&start=44:05
Adam Felber
May 8, 2007 at 11:47 am
4nato -
Sorry. Perhaps some other time. But it’s the cognitive dissonance that I get a charge out of here. Without Larry’s face and voice, you’re just looking at a scantily clad model dancing. I think there might be other places on the internet where you can see that.
WITH Larry’s face and voice, however, it’s something entirely different. Clearly, not everyone’s gonna really get it, but that doesn’t make me any less proud.
I will say this, though: Our “Larry” is a model who’s somewhat well-known amongst people who know… photographers’ models. And that Talkshow seems to have helped launch her comedy career…
Harold
May 8, 2007 at 1:28 pm
5Adam, now this question is on-topic!
Saturday night / Sunday morning I had Spike Feresten playing in another room (the John C. McGinley episode). I stepped out into the room with the TV, and I thought I heard this guy playing Matthew McConaughey say the words “another monkey” (the name of my blog) followed by “Hook ‘Em Horns” (a shout-out to the Texas Longhorns that is frequently heard on this site.) Are you salting the show with secret messages to your loyal minions, or was this just the product of my fevered imagination?
SeattleDan
May 8, 2007 at 2:10 pm
6Congrats, Adam, for being involved in a funny show, and for another year of gainful employment.
dee
May 8, 2007 at 3:21 pm
7Congratulations, Adam. Of course, it’s no “Wishbone,” but we do what we must.
Harold I had that same idea. I can’t begin to count all the references to “red-haired,” “blue suede shoes” “Prius-driving” “blog that nobody reads” during the show. Of course, I’m always asleep at midnight on Saturday, so I guess I was just dreaming.
Bob
May 8, 2007 at 3:39 pm
8Congratulations, Adam! Are you guys going day and date for season 2?
cooper
May 8, 2007 at 3:59 pm
9dee, you got blue suede shoes? Cool!
Great news, Adam. I just hope it doesn’t cut too severely into your novel writing time. How’s the next book coming anyway?
Mr. waterfowler, the Larry King bit and the Electric Lincoln are from the section of the show known as Comedy for Stoners. I’m sure it is lost on a no non-sense, hardcore cow-wrangler, such as yourself. But most humans enjoy a laugh from time to time - that’s why comedians and comedy writers evolved - to fill that void. And since we’re tangentially talking about religion here, is it hot as Hell down your way yet?
Sharon
May 8, 2007 at 4:17 pm
10Congratulations on the renewal, Adam. I still don’t have cable, so I’m going to have to wait for the DVDs or the webcast.
Just in case anyone was thinking of eating at McDonald’s this week, sister Susie has a story for you:
http://felberfrolics.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-mcdonalds-chicken-sushi- sandwich-my.html
Murray
May 8, 2007 at 5:42 pm
11Way to go Adam, now you got summer vacation off. Come on out to our Summer party in July. You can actually relax this time.
Maximum Bob
May 8, 2007 at 5:53 pm
12Lordy, that is one disturbing video. All you’d need for the cognitive dissonance to be complete is to have dancing King ask a substantive question.
Dirk's Diary
May 8, 2007 at 6:28 pm
135-08-07
Dear Diary,
Well, the Dickhead (my nickname for Cheney) wanted me back in DC early AM Monday so he could chew me a new one about opening up drilling rights in ANWR chop-chop, but I grew up with real cowboys, so he doesn’t intimidate me a bit, and I told him to go piss up a rope. Not that I give a rat’s ass about ANWR, but I told him I had different priorities. That got a minor blush out of him, chicken hawk that he is. These clowns are running out of time - less than 2 years left now - and they don’t have all the well heads they’d hoped for. Iraq is a clusterfuck - no oil flowing out of there - worse than before the war - so they’re pushing for all possible stateside drilling sites. I’m afraid they pissed away too many opportunities and the Democrats in Congress won’t be issuing them any more free passes. Cheney exudes fury with every word and gesture - I predict he’ll stroke out before the election. That would make me one step closer to the Presidency, but nah… forget it; that ain’t gonna happen.
Some constituents have pointed out my saying Post City, instead of Post Falls, ID, so I have to take a moment here to clarify. When I was Governor, the city fathers of Post Falls came to me with the proposition of changing the name to Post City, to reflect the explosive population growth over the past decade. After a considerable amount of haggling over price with the Lt. Governor, I assumed the deal was done. I left the governorship to join Interior and “Serve this great country of ours in a time of war”. (I’m embarrassed to say that’s the phrase the President used to win me over - may Bush rot in Hell, beginning soon.) I figured the deal had been sealed and the name changed to Post City, but I guess the money never materialized, so nothing happened. I was out of the loop and missed it. Mea culpa. I kept waiting for the envelopes of cash to arrive; I should have known.
Patricia has been fuming about something since I got back to town Sunday night. I think she got shut out of some of the really happening parties at the Derby, while her friends were welcomed in like they owned the place. She spent the rest of the evening back at the hotel bar sampling, and then tossing back up, a sizable quantity of Mint Julips. I think what really steamed her was paying hundreds of dollars for that absurd and grotesque hat she wore to the Derby and will never wear again. (BTW, that pissed me off, too, but I’ve learned to shut the pie hole at such times and let Patricia have her say.)
Dirk
David
May 8, 2007 at 7:53 pm
14“…and profoundly disturbed…” Lord, aren’t we all?
Major kudos for season #2.
gillian
May 9, 2007 at 3:56 pm
15Hi, guys. I’ve been out of town, so I wasn’t able to submit this cartoon until now. And yes, I know the internets is everywhere now, but the operating system on my laptop is Windows 95, which makes surfing the net a grand waste of time. For real. Anyway, enjoy.
Dirk's Diary
May 9, 2007 at 4:55 pm
165-09-07
Dear Diary,
Well, now I know why Cheney was in such a foul humor on Monday. He had been traveling all weekend and then, soon after our meeting, he hopped on another plane for that vacation mecca, Baghdad, Eye Rack. I guess he got the short straw, but it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving individual. Lynne, his wife, came in during the meeting and brought him some medicine to take. I figured it was for his heart, but as she was leaving the room, she called back to Dick to make sure he takes that medicine while he’s gone, because he knows how traveling locks his bowels up tight as a drum. I’m not sure I really wanted to know that, but it was fun watching him turn bright red and squirm in his seat for a few (silent, but for the repressed snickering) moments.
Early to bed tonight, Diary. Apparently I have number of Regent “University” graduates to smoke out in the staff meeting tomorrow morning. Rumor has it that they are like cockroaches, spread throughout the government. They’re even in Interior. I was in the cafeteria yesterday and I heard what sounded like a prayer meeting going on behind a partitioned seating area. It started out with one male voice groaning, others joined in with moaning sounds and talking in tongues. It rose to a crescendo with dozens of voices joining in and then it quit. Silence. And then the men began to file out from behind the partitions, emptying their lunch trays and walking out like nothing had happened. I swear it sounded like very good group sex. A number of law-abiding citizens around me blythly violated Executive Order 13058 by frantically lighting up cigarettes, right there in the cafeteria. I had a strong desire to do the same, but I am in an Executive position and must set a good example. Dammit.
Dirk
David
May 10, 2007 at 5:58 am
17Jon Stewart captured the very zen essence of Cheney’s surprise visit to Baghdad on last night’s show. Cheney is just full of any number of things. What a guy.
Thanks for the TT link, gillian. Hope the out of town part was a fun-filled trip.
Richard
May 10, 2007 at 7:58 am
18Now…that ain’t working…
hedera
May 10, 2007 at 3:53 pm
19Sister Susie is wrong. There are other places to eat on the road than McDonald’s. There aren’t necessarily GOOD other places to eat; but I’ve always been able to find a Burger King or (in desperation) a Denny’s. I literally have not eaten food from a McDonald’s for at least 15 years.
And now you know why…