The Office First things first: I know Jenna Fischer gave us fair warning in this week's blog, but I simply can't get past Pam's slightly different (yet thoroughly radical) hairdo. It's like when a formerly four-eyed friend gets contact lenses, or when Alex Trebek shaved off his mustache — you can't think about anything else for staring at the oh-so-tiny, all-consuming change. Sparkly pink headband… I might not sleep for days. Maybe I should take a stress-management cue from Meredith and whip up a big ol' somethin'-and-tonic in the break room.
While the rest of the office deals with Valentine's Day and its requisite emotional
read more
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Adam Sandler and King of Queens' Kevin James are in talks to play firefighters who pose as a gay married couple in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) might direct.... Variety reports that Hustle & Flow's Terrence Howard has joined the cast of August Rush, costarring Robin Williams and Keri Russell, and is in talks to headline P.D.R., based on the true story of inner-city Philly swim coach Jim Ellis.
read more
Penn Jillette in The Aristocrats
Paul Provenza is a seasoned comedy veteran. From stand-up to acting in sitcoms and movies, he's no stranger to the funny bone. So it's not surprising that his directorial debut — a meditation on one unbelievably dirty joke — garnered some serious attention at last year's Sundance Film Festival. The Aristocrats, arriving in stores today on DVD, is a who's who of comedy's finest — from George Carlin to Robin Williams to Jon Stewart to Whoopi Goldberg, and the list goes on and on. Provenza spoke with TVGuide.com about the movie and about one particular telling of The Aristocrats that has gone down in Hollywood lore.
TVGuide.com: This project is the brainchild of you and Penn Jillette
read more
Comedy legend Richard Pryor died of a heart attack Saturday morning at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 65. Pryor, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, first gained fame as a profane stand-up performer whose edgy, freewheeling style and personal take on racial inequality influenced an entire generation of comedians, including Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Robin Williams. In the '70s and '80s, he starred in hit films such as Stir Crazy and Silver Streak in addition to writing for TV shows and movies like Sanford and Son and Blazing Saddles. In the early '80s, he also battled drug addiction, which he referenced onstage and in his autobiographical film, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.
read more
Richard Pryor
Comedy legend Richard Pryor died of a heart attack Saturday morning at a Los Angeles hospital, the Associated Press reports. The ground-breaking comic and actor was 65 and had been ill with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative disease of the nervous system, for years. Pryor first gained fame as a profane standup performer whose edgy, free-wheeling style and personal take on racial inequality was an influence on an entire generation of comedians, including Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Robin Williams. In the 1970s and '80s, he starred in hit films such as Stir Crazy and Silver Streak in addition to writing for TV shows and movies like Sanford and Son and Blazing Saddles. In the early 1980's, he also battled drug addiction, which he referenced on stage and in his autobiographical film, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. He was diagnosed with MS in the 1990's
read more
Pauly Shore
The Wiezel is all grown up, and he means business. After spending the last few years on an involuntary hiatus, Pauly Shore makes his return to TV with Minding the Store, premiering Sunday at 9 pm/ET on TBS. Shore's latest stab at small-screen success is a reality show about revitalizing The Comedy Store, a Sunset Strip landmark owned by his mom Mitzi, where the likes of Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and many others honed their comic chops. TVGuide.com checks in with Pauly about his family, legendary comedians, and his issues with women.
TVGuide.com: Your family's at the heart of Minding the Store. Did you set out with that intention?Pauly Shore: Well, The Comedy Store is
read more
Pauly Shore
The Wiezel is all grown-up, and he means business. After spending the last few years on an involuntary hiatus, Pauly Shore makes his return to TV with Minding the Store, premiering Sunday at 9 pm/ET on TBS. Shore's latest stab at small-screen success is a reality show about revitalizing The Comedy Store, a Sunset Strip landmark owned by his mom Mitzi, where the likes of Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and many others honed their comic chops. TVGuide.com checks in with Pauly about his family, legendary comedians, and his issues with women.
TVGuide.com: Your family's at the heart of Minding the Store. Did you set out with that intention?Pauly Shore: Well, The Comedy Store is my family's business, so of course, you're dealing with my family. But outside of the Store, my brother, my sister, my mom and dad are all a big part of the show, because I'm basically letting the audience in on my life now. Pauly is grown-up.
read more
Chris Diamantopoulos took some razzing for his portrayal of Robin Williams in NBC's Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (an encore airs tonight at 8 pm/ET). The film got Jeered by TV Guide for "reducing Robin Williams to a perky yet sad clown." As for Williams himself, he claims he didn't even bother to watch. "It's weird," the comic cracks. "If they're going to make a bad movie about your life, then [you should] wait for the Cartoon Network [version]."
Of course, the film's leading man denies that his portrayal is just a gratuitous rehash of Williams' alleged diva behavior and drug problems during the
classic sitcom's run. "I don't think the movie's exploitative," Diamantopoulos tells TVGuide.com. "By nature, a biopic — whether the person's alive or dead — is [for] making money. Even
Ray , to some degree, is exploitative.
"A lot of people ask how I think R
read more
Best known as Special Agent Fox Mulder on cult classic The X-Files (1993-2002), David Duchovny wrote, directed and costars in House of D, with Robin Williams, wife Tea Leoni and Anton Yelchin in the lead role as Duchovny's character at 13.
"It's a coming-of-age film about what it is to grow up and how you have to leave certain things behind," says Duchovny, 44. He knows
House of D is no blockbuster, but if he draws just a quarter of his
X-Files audience, he says, "the movie would be a huge hit."
As for his Spanglish spouse's involvement, "Tea just kind of suggested herself for the part," he grins. "She was like, 'Do you think I could play the mom?' I said, 'Of course. You can play whoever you want. You can play Tommy if you want to.' But [working with me] was very nerve-racking for her because she was afraid she was going to screw up my movie. She was like, 'I'm just sitting here thinking I'm going to blo
read more
Earlier this month, NBC aired its TV-movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy, which portrayed Robin Williams as both a cokehead and a star tripper on the set of his classic sitcom. Since the actor who played Williams told TVGuide.com he was unsure of how Williams felt about the film, we decided to ask the man himself.
First off, did the 54-year-old funnyman even bother to watch it? "No," Williams answers. "It's weird. If they're going to make a bad movie about your life, then [you should] wait for the Cartoon Network [version]."
Williams admits to having some slight curiosity when he first heard the Mork movie was in the works. "I knew something was up when I asked [NBC] for a script," he says. "They said, 'No, we don't have that.'"
Speaking of TV controversy, the former Mork from Ork is far more irked with ABC tha
read more
