Filed Under Funny 2.0, Print, Stand-Up Comedy

PBS Looks into What Will “Make ’Em Laugh”

Tonight in most areas, PBS will air Make ’Em Laugh, a history of American comedy that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I’ve already picked up the companion book for the series and the amount of depth of material and history that they use to draw lines between past and (relatively) contemporary comedians is impressive. Plus, it’s damn gorgeous. If this is the resource material they used to build the documentary, your comedy nerd appetite will probably just be wetted. I don’t see how they’ll get it all in.

Tonight’s two episodes are “Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?”, which focuses on the comedian as outsider, and “Honey, I’m Home!”, which focuses on sitcoms and the comedian as the center of a family. It’s an interesting, and somewhat diametrically opposed paring that keeps comedy from being in a simple box. Also a little interesting - they are Chapters Four and Five of the companion book. The first chapter in print focuses on physical comedy, and while it’ll probably be entertaining, it doesn’t necessarily seem like the best tone setter for a TV series about comedians. Physical comedy can be polarizing. Good choice there.

There’s six episodes in all that will air on PBS, but there’s also a seventh, which focuses on web comedy entitled “Teh Internets”, and appropriately has been released only there. You’re not necessarily going to learn a lot from the video - if you’ve visited this site, you know this shit. It’s more of a Best Week Ever look at the subject. But it’s fun to see that those talking heads are a lot of favorite web comedians (the ones who are intentionally funny) and also Amy Sedaris doing some single person sketches that have a bit of fun with some web memes. Here it is:

If Sedaris ever has a cocktail party with all those web-themed treats, let me know. Yum.

Since PBS is decentralized, the airtime (and date for that matter) might be different for Make ’Em Laugh. You should check the schedule at the Make ‘Em Laugh site to find out when it’s on in your area.

Posted by Todd Jackson at 12:27 PM | Send to Friend
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