Henry Phillips’ sequel to Punching the Clown revisits the difficulties of performing stand-up comedy (with his guitar,) but doesn't pose new questions about that experience.
Perhaps MacFarlane will learn from his experiences, but with any luck, he'll learn the biggest lesson of all: his talents are required behind the camera, not in front of it.
Sarah Silverman's second HBO special/comedy album gives us another healthy helping of rape, incest, oral sex, profanity and jokes about Jews. In other words, Sarah Silverman being herself.
When NBC moved Jay Leno to ten, the network thought it was going to change the very face of TV. The goals in developing Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref were undoubtedly more modest. But Jerry may yet succeed where Jay failed.
Silverman's show is smart and self-conscious, but I wonder if maybe -- when all the tics and clever bits are pushed away -- it's also without a humorous center.
Instead of neuroses that are black-tinged and deep-seated, most of I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With's navel-gazing is genial to the point of being childlike.
We all make catty, hurtful remarks from time to time. Some are especially adept at devastating putdowns, and a select few have parlayed such skill into careers.
Amanda is demoted from object of desire to prop, so wan and undirected that she'll fall for whoever happens to be winning the boys' contest at any given moment.
Sarah Silverman's character is a spoiled, suburban princess, which allows her to deliver offensive one-liners with an unnerving mixture of naïvete and self-assured ignorance.
