As recently as 2007, Vanity Fair’s resident man of letters (presently dead), Christopher Hitchens, attempted to put a philosophical spin on a theme that recurs with suspect regularity in the comedy world. “Why Women Aren’t Funny” reads like the world’s most long-winded back hand of a compliment, including such Victorian condescension as: “Whereas women, bless their tender hearts, would prefer that life be fair, and even sweet, rather than the sordid mess it actually is. Jokes about calamitous visits to the doctor or the shrink or the bathroom, or the venting of sexual frustration on furry domestic animals, are a male province.” Right, because shit and fart jokes are really just thinly disguised death metaphors and women, unable to bear basic facts of reality, don’t understand the toilet foundation of comedy’s great temple. In this framing, South Park is Dostoyevsky. I’m also fairly certain that torturing animals out of sexual frustration is a psychiatric diagnosis, not a finely tuned gender sensibility. It’s not just Hitchens; Jerry Lewis infamously said much the same without all the literary pomp and even further down the sexism food chain, Two and A Half Men co-creator, Lee Aronsohn, twittered his way into this great debate by dismissively summarizing the role of women in comedy: “Enough, ladies. I get it. You have periods.” more ›

Tig Notaro is hilarious. But you already knew that. Maybe you saw her in this season's most heralded breakout TV comedy, the Sarah Silverman Program. Or perhaps you watched her perform stand-up in Austin in October with the Crackpot Comedy Tour. You may have even caught a glimpse of her on Jimmy Kimmel Live, season 4 of Last Comic Standing, Dog Bites Man, or Comedy Central's Premium Blend. And it's possible that you simply... more ›

What do we want? MOVIES! When do we want them? NOW! *Before the Fall An interesting film set in 1942 Berlin about an elite school where the country’s brightest young men were trained to be future members of the Nazi regime. Yeahhh, there’s just nothing funny about that. A Good Woman Holy crap, Scarlett Johansson and her breasts are everywhere, it seems. At least this movie finally answers the question, “What ever happened to... more ›

Another week, another steaming batch of new movie releases. What’ll it be, folks? Big Momma’s House 2 Martin Lawrence, your pigeonhole is waiting for you. *Nanny McPhee The new Mary Poppins - only uglier, and with more children. Starring Emma Thompson and brooding hottie Colin Firth. Supposedly this movie is doing very well in the UK. We could make a joke about unattractive British people here, but we’re far too classy for that. Annapolis... more ›

Hurrah, it’s Friday! There’s plenty of stuff going on around town this weekend, but perhaps you can find the time to slip into a cool, dark theatre and enjoy one of this week’s new movie releases. *The New World Another take on the story of Pocahontas, this time by director Terrence Malick. Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, and our future husband, Christian Bale, star in a film certain to at least be more historically authentic... more ›

Huh? Whaaa? Where the hell have we been? What day is it? It’s Friday already? It’s 2006 already??? Holy crap. Well, hopefully everyone had a happy holiday and a booze-infused (but responsible) New Year’s. Been to the local Cineplex lately? Maybe you saw Wolf Creek, or Hostel, or Bloodrayne. If so, we hope your friends adequately made fun of you. Perhaps you’ve seen Casanova? Heath Ledger’s career is back on track, baby! Just like... more ›

Countdown to the holidays, people. With all the cold weather we’ll be having, it’s a great time to take a break from mall-madness and catch a movie. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re already aware that Peter Jackson’s monster LOTR follow-up, *King Kong, hit theatres on Wednesday, and it’s getting rave reviews. Why shouldn’t it? Giant gorillas are sooooo cute. The Family Stone We swear, this movie comes out in some form... more ›

Terry Gross and Fresh Air are not single-minded when it comes to the ‘holiday season.’ In the spirit of Chanukkah, she will have on two authors today who celebrate another Jewish rite of passage, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. The old school ones. more ›

Some interesting cinematic offerings for you today, movie lovers. Much better than the dismal choices of last week (we read a review somewhere on the internerd in which the writer compared watching Aeon Flux to receiving an anal probe. Harsh). So cozy up in a theatre this weekend with one or more of this week’s new movie releases. *The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Forget the Christian undertones (or... more ›

**Well, well...thanks for the head's up Jooley. Apparently KUT is carrying Iggy Pop and Tim Curry. But we are listening to "today's" Fresh Air on their website. Quite confusing indeed. This is a first. (The discrepancy of the programming, not us being wrong)** more ›