MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Ramsey Ess

  1. Looking Back at Robert Smigel’s Saturday TV Funhouse Pilot

    Featuring a young Stephen Colbert as Grimy the Talking Outhouse.

  2. The Long, Intertwined History of Paul Simon, Lorne Michaels, and SNL

    Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels go way back.

  3. Looking Back at I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood

    Short’s 1989 special is one of the closest things there is to an episode of SCTV after that series ended in 1984.

  4. The Forgotten Film From The Dick Van Dyke Show’s Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie

    A look back on the cameo-packed 1966 comedy Don’t Worry, We’ll Think of a Title.

  5. Conan’s 25th Anniversary: O’Brien’s Writers on Their Favorite Moments

    “Only the writers knew how funny he was back then.”

  6. Digging Through the Comedy and Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling

    “Be this now. You don’t have to be something. This is it. Enjoy.”

  7. Looking for Lost Monty Python Material? Look No Further

    Looking back at the group’s Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album.

  8. Looking Back at Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian (Without the Cars and Coffee)

    Revisiting the 2002 documentary featuring Seinfeld and Orny Adams.

  9. Meet Brass Eye, the Original Who Is America?

    A look back at Chris Morris’s prescient British comedy series.

  10. The George Carlin Show Introduces Carlin to Television (Briefly)

    Remembering George Carlin and Sam Simon’s short-lived Fox sitcom.

  12. Before ‘Rick and Morty,’ Dan Harmon Tried to Reinvent Acceptable […]

    The idea of entertainment as an entity separate from the internet is one that is for the most part dead. Every movie must have social media […]

  13. An Appreciation of the Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart

    Quick Warning: This article spoils a minor plot point from the first episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Reading this won’t ruin your […]

  14. Looking Back at Alan Partridge’s First Show: 25 Years of Alan Partridge […]

    There is a chance, especially if you are living in America, that you may not know who Alan Partridge is. Played by Steve Coogan, Partridge is […]

  15. Dave Foley Gets Into the Holiday Special Spirit

    Holiday specials, for the most part, are a family affair. In general, they are (at best) sweet adventures or (at worst) cloying cash-grabs. […]

  16. ‘Too Funny to Fail’ Is the ‘Dana Carvey Show’ Doc the World Needed

    It is a rare From the Archives article that covers something that not only was made in the last fifteen years, but something that was released […]

  17. Bob Hope Plays the Supervillain to 1966’s Biggest Comedic Stars

    Whatever you think of him, it’s next to impossible to refute the fact that Bob Hope was the king of comedy during his tenure. Whether it was […]

  18. Take a Good Look at Ernie Kovacs’ Incredibly Strange Game Show

    Ernie Kovacs was a genius. There’s no way around that. Carson, Letterman, and Conan have all cited him as an influence, and there have been […]

  19. John Cleese’s Early Days on ‘I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again’

    When John Cleese looks back on his life in the first volume of his memoir, So, Anyway…, he doesn’t say that the happiest time in his life was […]

  20. A Lost Script from the Files of the ‘Police Squad!’

    Airplane! The Naked Gun. Kentucky Fried Movie. When it comes to the classics of modern comedy, Zucker, Abrahams & Zucker were kings. After […]

  21. Edgar Wright’s Forgotten Film Debut ‘A Fistful of Fingers’

    Edgar Wright’s newest film Baby Driver is out this week, and if early reviews are any indication, it can easily stand alongside his previously […]