"Playing House" is one of the best comedies on television

USA has to be on the UHF band

Last week season two of "Playing House" premiered on the USA Network.

I was out of town and my wife and I were unable to watch. We got back from our trip last night and not only were we able to see the season premiere on On Demand, but we got to see the next two episodes as well. "Playing House" is back and it's just as good as the first season. Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair are comedic geniuses. Not only are they excellent comedy writers, but they're phenomenal actors. They're both so funny and their chemistry is great. It's easy to see that they are best friends in real life.

USA is a great network for this show to be a part of. St. Clair and Parham had a show on NBC a couple of years ago, but it wasn't a good fit. USA lets them take chances and they let the show be a bit risqué. In the three episodes we saw last night I heard them say asshole and shit. That doesn't happen on channels like NBC. I feel, and I think they'd agree, that the cancellation from NBC was the best thing for them. This opened up the possibility of doing the show they wanted on a network that would let them take chances. USA hit a home run by putting "Playing House" on the air. They scored even more points for me when they renewed it for a second season.

In season one, we all know that Emma(St. Clair) left her high powered job in China to move home to help a very pregnant Maggie(Parham) get ready for the birth of her baby. We also found out that Maggie's husband, Bruce(Brad Morris) was cheating on her, so she needed her friend more than ever. In the season two premiere, we see Maggie, Emma and the baby posing for pictures at a mall. The baby girl, Charlotte, looks to be about four months old. St. Clair and Parham play up the photo shoot for very big laughs. After the photo shoot, they run into "Bird Bones"(Lindsay Sloane) and Mark(Keegan Michael Key), friends from the town that they can't see anymore because Emma is in love with Mark and "Bird Bones" isn't happy with that. "Bird Bones" and Mark are working out their relationship problems, so they are at the photographers to get family photos with their new dog Renee. It's supposed to be a bonding time for them, but it's just awkward after running into Maggie and Emma. We find out later that Maggie is secretly bringing Charlotte over to Mark's house so he can see her and they can continue their friendship. This encounter runs us into the big problem they run into in the premiere. Charlotte has a doll called Mr. Kooky and it's the only thing that can get her to sleep. Maggie and Emma go over to Mark's house, Maggie knows the code to get in, and look for the doll. We then see Renee chewing on Mr. Kooky. Maggie and Emma eventually get the doll back, but by that time, "Bird Bones" and Mark arrive home. It eventually gets found out that Maggie and Emma are in the house. The four of them have a big talk where they reveal all their problems and, having this out in the open, makes everyone more comfortable around each other. Maggie and Emma are told that they can have the toy back, but we then see Renee humping it, so they leave Mr. Kooky be. When Maggie and Emma go to Bruce's house to get Charlotte, Charlotte is sound asleep. When they ask him how he got her to sleep, Bruce replies, "I told her she's the love of my life, kissed her and put her to bed". Simple as that. The three of them are looking at their picture from the photo shoot and while Emma and Maggie are unhappy with how they look, Charlotte looks great and that's all that matters. A very sweet ending.

It was a very solid season two premiere. I don't want to spoil the next two episodes from anyone, but they're both very funny and very good. Jane Kaczmarek is back as Emma's mom and Zach Woods is back as Charlotte's uncle. They both have very good scenes in the next two episodes. The real standout to me, so far, is Keegan Michael Key. He is so funny and a very good actor. He plays Mark as a strong, but understandable husband and friend to the three ladies in his life. He's a top notch comedy actor. I'm so happy that "Playing House" is back on the air. It's a very solid show, and fans of comedy should be watching.

Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He plays house with a living baby, a dog, and his hard working wife. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty's pumptitude pays off with the great "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp"

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

Now that I've finished "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp", I'm so very, very pleased with how great it was and is.

It was truly everything I hoped and wanted it to be. It was silly, goofy and ridiculously uproarious. The fact that they made it 15 years after the movie and the actors played their same roles was great. I loved how they kept saying things like, oh I'm young, my body is still in great shape, or, I can't drink, I'm not of age yet. It's hilarious when you watch it and see these actors in their late 30's and 40's saying these lines. The original cast members were excellent reprising their roles, the best being Paul Rudd. He was rude, crude and gross. But, he also showed some heart and we realized that he wasn't a total jerk, he can be a good guy sometimes. Elizabeth Banks back story was great. She was a journalist that wanted to get the real teenage experience by going to a summer camp. Problem was, she was 24 and nobody at the magazine believed she could be a 16 year old, until she pulled her hair back. Then they all believed she could do the report.

The new cast additions were pretty excellent too. Josh Charles, Kristen Wiig and Rich Somer, the rich kids from Camp Tiger Claw were awesome. Josh Charles was so douchey, his collar was popped three times. They played the snotty, spoiled rich kids perfectly. John Slattery was so great as the big time theater director from New York. He was slimy and acted as if he was a well known, superstar director. He was just great. Micheala Watkins played his choreographer and she was a disgusting, horny old lady that wanted to hook up with campers. It was a perfect role for her and she nailed it. H Jon Benjamin and Jason Schwartzman as the camp directors were really good too. Schwartzman played his typical role, but he was very funny. Benjamin was hysterical and we found out where the talking of can of vegetables from the movie came from.

Watch the series to see what I'm talking about. My favorite new addition was Jon Hamm as President Reagan's top assassin, The Falcon. He was a stone cold killer, but we find out that he's an old army buddy of Camp Firewood's head chef. Hamm plays the role with his usual quiet, yet seething anger charm. Jon Hamm is a very strong comedic actor.

I loved "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". Fans of the movie will love the show and I think the show will bring a bunch of new fans to the franchise. This was totally worth the wait and I'm probably going to watch it about ten more times and hope they do more.

It was perfect.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. He is currently away at summer camp, and he is way to old to be doing that. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty binges on "BoJack Horseman", and it was great.

These horsemen agree with Ty

I just recently finished season two of "BoJack Horseman" on Netflix, and it was an upgrade from season one.

I liked season one, but season two was better. This show is on a good path after two seasons. It's already been picked up for a third season as well. All of us who watch "BoJack Horseman" know that season one ended with BoJack(Will Arnett) getting the lead role in the upcoming "Secretariat" movie and that's where season two started. Bojack was listening to self help tapes and was trying to be a better person. He was the complete opposite of himself from the first season. He was upbeat, encouraging and ready for the next challenge, but something seemed off. He wasn't truly happy and flashbacks during the season showed that his dad left when he was young and his mom was a bad mother.

As the season moved on, BoJack returned to his old self and was a pretty miserable friend and person. Later on, he meets a female owl named Wanda Pierce(voiced by Lisa Kudrow), who's been in a very long coma, woken up and is now a high level TV executive. Everybody likes her ideas because she's so "nostalgic". Diane(Alison Brie) and Mr. Peanut Butter(Paul F Tompkins) continued their martial "bliss". I put bliss in quotes because, both of them have issues with their marriage. Mr. Peanut Butter feels like he can never make Diane happy and Diane wants to go to a war torn Cordovia to help less fortunate children. They both seem upset with each other, but they constantly are trying to make things work. Princess Carolynn(Amy Sedaris) eventually finds problems with her boyfriend, who's really a couple of kids playing dress up and acting like an adult, and they eventually call it off. Princess Carolynn also is very unhappy at the agency and she starts an agency of her own this season.

The real standout of this season was Todd(Aaron Paul). He had some of my favorite episodes of the season. The episode entitled "Yes And" was a great send up of Improv comedy. The writers treated improv like it was a cult. They even went so far as to have Todd wander around aimlessly, look into Scientology, but turn that down for Improv. I loved the way they skewered that style of comedy and I'm a big fan of improv comedy. The character of Todd kind of grew up this season and in the end, he stills winds up sleeping on BoJack's couch.

Some of the guest voices this season were pretty big named people. The first director of the "Secretariat" movie was a lady named Kelsey Jannings, voiced by an all time great alt comic, Maria Bamford. She was later replaced because she was deemed to good of a director and replaced by an old catfish named Abe voiced by Garry Marshall. John Krasinsky plays the voice of Secretariat in the flashbacks during this season. Academy Award winner Alan Arkin voices JD Salinger this season. By the way, the episodes with JD Salinger aren't flashbacks, they reveal that he's been alive for years and bring him into the world of TV gameshows. The episodes with him, there's two of them, are excellent. Ben Schwartz(Jean Ralphio on "Parks and Rec") plays a new agent that works with Princess Carolynn named Rutabega Rabitowitz. There are many other big name actors and actresses that do voices this season, but the ones I mentioned were the ones that carried over for me and the ones I remembered the most.

The final couple of episodes were very good. We see BoJack leave the movie he's making to try and reconnect with an old flame. Diane moves in with BoJack, his new girlfriend and Todd because she's too afraid to go home to Mr. Peanut Butter. BoJack eventually breaks up with Wanda and buys a boat. And Todd gets out of the "cult" that is improv comedy. The finale seemed a little too crammed with them trying to tie up a ton of loose ends. I enjoyed it, but I would've liked it more had it been an hour long instead of thirty minutes. Things are going the right way for "BoJack Horseman" and I see it getting better and better.

Season two improved upon season one, and the only way to go is up. I really like this show a lot.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He would much rather watch a cartoon horseman than a live horseman. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty recommends "The Wahlberg Solution" as one of your podcast pleasures.

You want me to listen to what now?

I have just recently started listening to a newish podcast called "The Wahlberg Solution" and I'm here to tell you, it's great.

You can get the podcast through the "Sklarbro Country" feed since "The Wahlberg Solution" is Daniel Van Kirk's show. Dan Van Kirk is the co host on every Tuesday's episode of "Sklarbro County" and he's a great comedian that's a phenomenal impressionist. He does impressions of a lot of famous and not so famous people. He does Steven Seagal, Rob Durst from "The Jinx, Dr. Phil, the recently deceased former pro football player Doug Bafone, a lonely TSA agent in the Chicago Airport and an annoying traveler who's been everywhere and seen everything. His best impression, in my opinion, is his Mark Wahlberg. It's spot on. I get excited every time I hear that there's going to be a surprise drop in or voicemail on "Sklarbro County" from Mark Wahlberg. Dan Van Kirk does a heightened version of Wahlberg, claiming that he's just run something like a 22k or will only drink water if it has creatine in it. Van Kirk's Wahlberg has popped up on other podcasts, most notably as a guest on "Doug Loves Movies". Fans love when he's on "DLM" and we get crazily excited when his segment, "Doing Lines with Mark", comes on. No, they're not doing cocaine. Doug Benson has "Wahlberg" read a line from a famous movie and the panelists have to guess the movie. If they don't get it right after three tries, "Wahlberg" loses his mind. It's quite funny.

So, when Van Kirk announced that he would have the great people at Earwolf show up to one of his live shows of "The Wahlberg Solution" and have them record it for an episode that you could get through "Sklarbro Country" I was super excited. So were his fans, because they've now done seven episodes. "The Wahlberg Solution" is a lot like Bill Maher's show on HBO "Real Time with Bill Maher". The structure is exactly the same, whereas on each show, the panelists discuss important political and social issues. The difference, "The Wahlberg Solution" is pretty damn hilarious. Van Kirk plays Wahlberg and he invites his comedian friends, that also do great impressions, to be his panelists. Comedians like Kenny Stevenson, who plays multiple people like Nic Cage and Michael Caine, or Marques Ray who plays Manny Pacquiao, or Madeline Walter who does a perfect Anne Hathaway and James Adomian who plays "presidential" candidate Bernie Sanders. Van Kirk has also had a heavy hitter on this show with Jay Mohr doing an excellent Harvey Keitel. He also gets other comedians to come on and just be themselves, comedians like Dominic Dierkes or Andy Peters. To hear these people discuss important topics is great, because they all play glorified versions of their character and they're so out of touch with the regular people. They usually don't understand how anyone anywhere can have problems. They all usually end up asking why people can't just solve their problems by buying some lavish, expensive items. As these celebrities usually do.

The podcast is very, very kooky and very funny. The shows last about 45 minutes to an hour and since there's only seven of them, it's really easy to get caught up. One can only hope that there's going to be a lot more "Wahlberg Solution" episodes since it's so great. Like I said earlier, you can get all the episodes through the "Sklarbro Country" feed. I love impressions and Dan Van Kirk is one of the best impressionist out there right now.

Do yourself a favor and give "The Wahlberg Solution" a listen. You will love it

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X-Millennial Man Podcast. Good comedy in downloadable form so it can be listened to at anytime is how Ty likes his entertainment. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty finds Nick at Night and the Jim Gaffigan Show

Last night the "Jim Gaffigan Show" had it's season premiere.

The program was on Nick at Nite at 10:30/9:30pm. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the pilot episode. The show's premise is basically Jim Gaffigan's real life. He's a stand up comedian, but also a dad to five young children, has a wife that's way out of his league and they live in a 2 bed room apartment in Manhattan. The pilot episode was about vasectomies and, should Jim get one or not. The topic of vasectomies was brought up when his wife Jeanie, played very well by Ashley Williams, thought that she may be pregnant, adding to an already over crowded apartment. Turns out she wasn't pregnant and then the idea of a vasectomy was talked about, with many different people throughout the episode. We see Jim at lunch with one of his buddies Dave, played by Adam Goldberg, chatting. Dave is a single guy that lives with his mom in a nursing home that, as he points out, is only a block away from the strip club. Dave lives with no attachments or responsibilities. The exact opposite of Gaffigan. Dave tells him, better yet warns him, about the dangers of getting a vasectomy, saying that it's a terrible thing to do to your body. Later, Jeanie and Jim go looking for an apartment with Jeanie's gay ex boyfriend, played hilariously by Michael Ian Black. He of course knows that Jim is looking into the procedure because Jeanie tells him, and everyone else for that matter, their personal business. Jim eventually doesn't go through with the procedure and all's well that ends well.

This was a pretty decent pilot episode, and a little risqué for a show on Nick at Nite. It reminded me of a mash up between "Maron", "Louie" and "Seinfeld". Those are three pretty great shows to model your show after. All three of them have professional comedians as the lead actor and writers as well. That's a great idea, especially when basing a show after your own life. The "Jim Gaffigan Show" is going to be good. I just have a really good feeling about this and being on Nick at Nite is the perfect channel for the show. Gaffigan works as a clean comic and, even though I said it was risqué earlier, it's only feels that way because of the channel it's on. Any other cable channel and it would be like any other show. If you're a fan of Gaffigan, as I am, when you watch this show you'll like. As of early reviews, the critics seem to enjoy it to. In my overall opinion, this show is good, with the chance to be great.

Watch it.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. This is the first time he watched, or heard of, Nick at Night. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty spends some time in heaven watching "7 Days in Hell"

There are spoilers for the HBO film "7 Days in Hell". Go watch and come back to read Ty's review.

I got around to watching "7 Days in Hell" the other day and it was pretty hilarious.

"7 Days in Hell" is a mockumentary style HBO Sports movie. It stars Andy Samberg as American bad boy tennis pro Aaron Williams and Kit Harrington as the far too wound up, immature English tennis pro Charles Poole. The movie was about the longest tennis match in the history of Wimbledon. The match took seven days, hence the name "7 Days in Hell", with no winner. The path the writers and actors took to get to this match was quite funny. "7 Days in Hell" reminded me a lot of the Will Ferrell and Jon Heder movie "Blades of Glory", except these two pros don't become teammates or friends, they hate each other. They respect each other, but they really do not like each other at all. The movie started by giving Aaron Williams back story, revealing that he was abandoned by his parents, only to be found and adopted by Serena and Venus Williams father. Serena Williams played one of the talking heads in the movie and she was very funny, taking her role very seriously. Aaron Williams learned tennis on the streets of Compton and rose through the ranks all the way up to number two in the world. On the precipice of winning his first Wimbledon Final in 1995, Williams was cruising through the championship, until one of his powerful serves knocked a linesman unconscious and caused him to have a heart attack and die, right there on the court. Will Forte, who played another talking head, writer Sandy Pickard, said that there was a silver lining in the linesman dying, it produced the fastest serve in the history of tennis, clocking in at 175 miles per hour. I found that extremely funny. This death caused Williams to lose the match and he walked away from tennis after shoving the Duke of Kent, played by Howie Mandel.

We next get Charles Poole's back story. When he was a three year old, his mother, played by Mary Steenburgen, pushed him into tennis and forced him to play and practice constantly. In some "home" videos you can clearly hear him say, "I don't like tennis". His mom was undeterred and Poole continued to play tennis against his will and he too, rose the ranks all the way to number two in the world, taking over Williams spot after he disappeared. When Poole was 15, he appeared on a British sports talk show, hosted by Caspian Wint, played fantastically by Michael Sheen, and when asked if there was a better tennis player than him on Earth, Poole replied with a simple, "No".

This seemed to go by without anyone noticing, but in a Swedish prison, where Williams was staying after a failed fashion career and being caught with PCP, saw it on the TV and escaped prison just so he could play Poole in the upcoming Wimbledon. On day one, we learn that all the tennis players have sponsorship deals for the clothes they wear, but Williams didn't currently have one. That's when Lanny Denver, president and CEO of Jordache, played hilariously by Lena Dunham, stepped in and made Williams an all white denim tennis outfit. Needless to say, the clothes were a nightmare and coupled with Williams terrible playing, Jordache pulled the deal. You think this may have ended the match, but rain put day one on hiatus, with Poole winning the first set 6-0. Things all seemed well for the Englishman, but with added pressure from the Queen, played by June Squibb, Poole was coming undone. Day two showed Williams storming back, playing the best tennis of his life. People weren't sure where this spectacular play was coming from, but it appeared that Williams was doing copius amounts of cocaine from many different places on and around the court. Williams came back strong to tie it up. With both players being tied and no one winning match point, the match lasted eight hours each for the next two days with no winner. Day four looked to be Poole's chance to take the match, with Williams running out of gas and steam. But, two streakers came on to the court, one male one female, and Williams had a three way that lasted so long, the match had to be postponed for another day. That night, it was revealed that Williams was in an accident and his shoulder was separated. This looked to be the end for Williams, but he played the entire day left handed and just when it looked like he was finally going to lose, his close friend David Copperfield appeared out of nowhere onto Poole's shoulders. A magic trick gone wrong explained Copperfield with a wink. This being in Poole's head, the constant threat of someone landing on his shoulders out of nowhere, gave Williams another chance and the match went to day six. Before starting play, Williams held a press conference claiming he found out that his real father was from England and he was the greatest English tennis pro, clearly only doing this to mess with Poole's head. There was also the reveal of a sex tape between Williams and Poole's ex girlfriend, model Lily Allsworth, played by Karen Gillan. This only further screwed with Poole's head and he could not get the win over Williams. Williams ineptitude playing tennis, after being away from the game for six years, caused him the inability to get the win as well. We get to the seventh day, the day everyone hoped and prayed the match would end. There were plenty of great rallies and pretty decent tennis being played. All the stuff Williams had been doing to Poole all week finally boiled over and Poole challenged Williams to a fight. With the acceptance and go ahead from the Queen, the two players charged the net with their rackets being held like weapons. They met at the same time and hit each other simultaneously. They each went down and it was revealed that they instantly died. The match never ended with a winner. People felt that these two were such great competitors, that they should be buried in a casket together. The movie also featured the likes of, Fred Armisen, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Soledad O'Brien, John Hamm as the narrator and, the funniest one in the movie in my opinion, Jim Lampley. If you don't know who Jim Lampley is, he's a sports talk show host on HBO and he constantly made jokes about how none of this story really mattered because tennis is a stupid sport. He was hilarious.

I highly recommend checking out "7 Days in Hell". It's very funny.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He has played tennis, it was 7 minutes in hell. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty saw Jen Kirkman, you should too.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Last night I went to see Jen Kirkman do a stand up set at the Firebird in St. Louis and she put on a very good show.

Kirkman was very funny while working on new material. I was very happy to hear new stuff since she just put a special on Netflix, "I'm Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine)". The special is excellent. Watch it if you haven't seen it yet. Let's get back to last night's show. Jen Kirkman's opener was pretty funny. He's an Australian named David Quirk. He had some funny bits about running into tween bullies at a skate park and talked about how differently we pronounced the letter R compared to the Australians. His best bit was about a friend telling him that he told his blind date that he, meaning David, is a registered sex offender. David thinks this is funny and he goes back to the girl, asks her if a stranger talked to her about him and told her he's a sex offender and she responded quite simply with, no. It was very funny.

After his fifteen minutes, it was Jen Kirkman's show. She owned the crowd and the stage. Like I said, she told us that she was going to be working on material, almost warning us, but all of it really worked. She is just so damned good at stand up. She talked about a variety of things throughout her almost hour and a half set. She opened with a bit about being pre-diabetic, transitioned into some really funny stuff about guys catcalling women, talked about her family and talked about her dating life, now that she's about a year and a half into her divorce. She was very open and honest about her personal life. I like when stand ups are so forthright with an audience like Kirkman was last night. We learned that she never really was in love with her ex husband, that her father had brain surgery and the fact that she, in her own words, is a very difficult person to date since she's only focused on herself, among many other things. Most stand up shows I go to, the headliner usually does 40 minutes to an hour. That's there set and you, for the most part, know what you're going to get. The fact that she was working out new material and seemed pretty comfortable with us, the audience, the hour and a half set seemed to go by very quickly. I could've watched her perform for another hour easily. Kirkman's crowd work was the best I've seen live since, Todd Barry. She spoke to a lot of different audience members and never talked down to us, treating us like equals. I really respect and enjoy that from comedians.

My favorite bit came when she was talking about men catcalling women, and her being involved in this very incident, or so she thought. She was in North Carolina and a man in a pick up drove by her, reversed back to her and told her to had to say something to her, and it might be creepy. Naturally, we all thought it would be vulgar, but the man just wanted to compliment her shoes and ask her if they were comfortable. He told her that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he never said that to her. Kirkman deemed this a worthy catcall. Stating that if you need to say something to a woman that's a stranger to you, make sure you compliment an article of clothing. That's acceptable.

Overall, I had a really good time at the show and I hope Jen Kirkman comes back to Saint Louis in the future because I'd love to see more of her stand up. She's really good and if you have a chance to see her, do yourself a favor and go.

You'll be very happy with your decision.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. If you are a comedian, and you come to St. Louis, Ty will be in the crowd. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty says why not to Why? with Hannibal Buress

Last night was the premiere of Why? With Hannibal Buress on Comedy Central. It followed the season four premiere of the always excellent Key and Peele and I thought it was a bit clunky, but also very funny. I'm a big fan of Hannibal Buress. I love his standup and his appearances on shows like "Broad City" and the "Eric Andre Show". He's also the lone bright spot in last year's "Neighbors". So, I was predisposed to like his show. It's also about time he got his own show. The dude wrote for SNL and 30 Rock, so he's clearly got the talent for sketch and situational comedy. I'm sure a part of the reason he got a deal for a show now has to do with the whole Bill Cosby thing that he was involved with. Basically, he'd been telling a joke about Cosby being a sexual predator for months, but some fan videotaped this bit, which you're not supposed to do at his shows, and it blew up all over social media and television. But, that's not really why he got a show. He got one because he's really funny and a very good writer. The show is pretty loose, starting off with a monologue and some sketches follow. Last night during one of the sketches, Buress called out internet trolls and decided he was going to track one particular troll who's been bothering him for some time now. He arrives at the house and it turns out to be Amy Schumer, another comedian with a very successful show on Comedy Central. Obviously, this was a joke sketch and it was very funny. Schumer poked fun of herself and Buress deflected all his anger and had to calm Schumer down. It was very funny, with a great back and forth between the two comics. Schumer tells him that "Comedy Central is my network" and Buress responds with, "Viacom owns it!" Pretty good stuff. The next sketch wasn't as good, with Buress mimicking a guy on the internet who responds to police by saying,"I don't answer questions". It was your typical, I'm young and older cops don't understand me type stuff, but what saved it was Buress' commentary after the sketch was over. He seems very comfortable poking fun at himself. The sketch of the night was his Daily Show audition tape. It was a comedy of purposeful errors ranging from calling himself Jon Stewart to saying at the end that he doesn't even really want the job. Look it up, it's very funny. The show ended with the Why? With Hannibal Buress national anthem. It was okay, but went on a bit too long for my taste. Overall, it was a pretty good pilot episode. I have a lot of hope in this show and Hannibal Buress. He's a very funny man who's time in the limelight has finally come.

Good luck Mr. Buress, I think you have a very bright future ahead of yourself on TV.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  His summer television regiment is old Simpsons followed by new sketch comedy. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty encourages you to join "The Meltdown"

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Tonight on Comedy Central the second season of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" premiers at12:30am/11:30pm central time.

Being a fan of stand up comedy, especially alt comedy, I'm very excited for this show to be back. It's a simple premise. Jonah Ray(from his podcast "Jonah Raydio") and Kumail Nanjiani(from his two podcasts, "Indoor Kids" and "The X Files Files" and the TV show "Silicon Valley") host a standup show in the basement of a comic book store. This is a great showcase for comics that aren't on the level of a Louis CK or even a Nick Swardson, both I'm a big fan of, but for comics that are contemporaries of Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani. That's not to say that pretty famous people don't appear on season one. One episode ended with Weird Al Yankovic doing a pretty awesome and hilarious music medley. Nick Offerman, you may know him as Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation", shows up and works on his standup. Marc Maron, the podcaster that just interview President Obama, did two sets on season one. Those are some big time names in comedy. But, while having these famous people on, this show is more for up and coming alt comics. People like Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate did their routine in season one. Neal Brennan CRUSHED during his five minute set. Garfunkel(Riki Lindholm) and Oates(Kate Micucci) did their comedy music on an episode. I'm a big fan of all these comics and this was the perfect showcase for them.

The Meltdown has been going on for a decent amount of time, but Comedy Central decided to make it a TV show last year. That was a great decision by them. Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani make a great team hosting the show. They're both great standup comics in their own right, but the two of them hosting this show as a pair is phenomenal. They have a great back and forth and their "yes anding" is top of the line. They're so funny.

Another cool thing about the show, you get to see the comics hanging out backstage. One episode last season had Doug Benson on and while he was performing, Jim Gaffigan was backstage giving Doug Benson a hard time, totally throwing him off his timing while doing his set. It was hilarious. Backstage, we get to see Nanjiani's wife, Emily V Gordon doing her thing. She basically runs the whole show. She gets the comics on stage when they're up and keeps things fun and loose backstage. She's pretty great at her job. This season has pretty great lineup from what I've seen so far. Comics like, Ron Funches, Brett Gelman, Cameron Esposito, Kurt Braunholer, the girls from "Broad City", and one of my personal favorites, Hannibal Burress. This show is really awesome and it's an excellent showcase for these comedians. Everybody needs to get on board with this show so that Comedy Central will continue to air it. I highly recommended watching it.

It's fantastic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He practices his stand-up in the basement with his three year old. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

A day in podcasting history. Ty talks about the President on WTF with Marc Maron.

This is a follow up to Ty's piece on WTF with Marc Maron.

Today was the WTF with President Obama and it did not disappoint.

During the historic episode politics were talked about, but that was not the majority of the interview. I'd say about 30 minutes focused on Barack Obama as a person, not just the President. Those thirty minutes will be what I focus on.

 President Obama openly talked about growing up with a single mother, candidly talking about writing a book about his father, commenting on the art and, as President Obama put it, the "knick knacks" on Marc Maron's walls and even talking about which comedians he enjoys. I was impressed with the President's knowledge of stand up comedy. He mentioned that he likes Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory and "newer" comics like Louis CK and Jerry Seinfeld. Marc Maron made a point to say that President Obama saying he likes Louis CK will make his life complete, CK's life that is. To hear President Obama so openly talk about his father being an abuser and womanizer and drunk was very humanizing. I think we see someone achieve the level of president and we think they most likely grew up with a "Leave it to Beaver" type home. This is not the case with President Obama. His dad was not there while he was growing up and becoming the person that he is today. To hear him be so candid was refreshing. Here's a person who had a shitty father and look at him now, he's on his second term as President. This goes to show you that, if you work hard enough, you can achieve a whole lot. He sang his mother's praises throughout the interview as well. He's very grateful and loves his mom a lot.

One of the big things that has stuck with me after listening to the interview was how relaxed and calm and almost carefree President Obama sounded. I have to believe that if I was the President, I'd be terrified every second of everyday and I feel like that would show. Not with Obama, he doesn't sound like every other politician I've ever heard or listened to, he doesn't sound like he's trying to sell me on his brand or fill my head with empty promises. He just sounds like a regular guy. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SOUNDED RELAXED! HOW CRAZY IS THAT! He was so at ease, he was giving Marc Maron advice on how to get over anger and other stuff.

I was immensely impressed with the President's interview today. This made me even more happy that I voted for him and that I support him still. Like I said in my lead up, he knows what the younger generation is in to, and by going on a very popular podcast made himself even cooler. I also want to say thank you to Marc Maron for doing this. This was just as big a deal to his listeners as it was to him. It may not seem like that to him now, but the fact that he got the leader of the free world to be open, honest and talked to him like he would interview anybody else is huge for his listeners. This was a great day for President Obama, Marc Maron and listeners of WTF.

A great day.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. He is preparing his big debut on the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Goodbye Reggie Watts, this fan of Comedy! Bang! Bang! will miss you

Last night marked the end of the Reggie Watts era on The Comedy Bang! Bang! TV show.

They gave him a pretty fitting send off. The episode opened with an aged Scott Aukerman giving an interview in the future about his old best friend Reggie Watts. Flash back to present time and the show started like it always does, with the theme song, intros and the guest coming to the couch. Judd Apatow was the guest last night, but he was only in the first five minutes of the episode. I appreciated this because this episode needed to be about Reggie and Scott's friendship and what it's like for a close friend to leave for higher profile job(Reggie Watts is the band leader for the new Late Late Show with James Corden).

Throughout the time Apatow was being interviewed, many jokes were made about how great a comedy team Scott and Reggie are and how it's great that they will always work together. During the interview though, US Army soldiers raid the stage and say they were sent to capture Reggie Watts because he's an alien and his race was coming to destroy Earth. I felt this was a good way to send him off. It wasn't sad or corny, it was a typical CBB bit. Reggie's alien race, made up of three different versions of himself, proceed on Earth, but Reggie and Scott come up with a plan to film a video saying that Earth was covered with water and this is very poisonous to their race. The video worked and the aliens retreated. Everyone was very happy and you thought that things would go on as normal.

Oh the contrary my friend. The Army was still planning on capturing Reggie and taking him away. Scott refused to let them do this, saying that they'd have to kill him if they wanted Reggie. Well, the lieutenant said okay and fired at Scott. Reggie stepped in front of the bullet and was hit in the chest and yellow goo oozed out of him. Seeing that they had taken care of Reggie, the army felt they did their job and left Scott to grieve over his friend. After the soldiers were gone, it was revealed that Reggie was okay, stating that bullets are like Viagra to his race. Seeing that his friend was alive Scott was relieved and thought the show would go on as it always had, with Reggie as his band leader.  Reggie pointed out that when the Army found out he was still alive they'd come back for him and he didn't want to put anyone in harms way. Scott asked him what he would do and Reggie said he would roam the Earth like a nomad. Scott and Reggie hug, say their good byes and Reggie walked out the stage door. Flash forward, back to old Scott Aukerman and he's doing a crossword puzzle and the clue is, someone who misses and loves his friend Scott dearly and they pan to a picture in the paper and it's an aged photo of Reggie Watts, the crossword puzzle author(a call back to a joke earlier in the episode). This was a great way to say good bye to a guy who's been with the show since its infancy. Very goofy and silly. Exactly what you'd expect from CBB. Reggie Watts wrote the theme song for the podcast, he wrote and performed most of the songs that are used for games and segments in the show and podcast. He did pretty much all the music stuff for Comedy Bang! Bang! He was an integral part. Kid Cudi will be the new band leader when the show comes back on July 9th and while I enjoy his music, he's no Reggie Watts. It will be interesting to see if Kid Cudi has the comedic chops Reggie Watts has.

You will be missed Mr Watts, but you are on to bigger and better things. And for all the alternative comedy fans out there, I'm sure he will still show up from time to time, so he's not really going away, he just got a new opportunity.

Good for him.
 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He thinks one day people will leave network late night shows to join Comedy Bang Bang as a better opportunity.  Give him a twitter follow @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks you should give "Womp it Up!" a listen

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

As you all know I listen to many, many podcasts. I'd say about ninety to ninety five percent are comedy. When I heard that Marissa Wompler(Jessica St Clair) and Charlotte Listler(Lennon Parham), who are beloved from their many appearances on the great "Comedy Bang Bang", were getting their own podcast,"Womp It Up!" I subscribed to it immediately I listened to the four mini preview clips with much anticipation. Now that they're four episodes deep, it has not disappointed.

Wompler and Listler are still up to their usual shenanigans. In episode one, they have Eric Gutterman AKA Gutterballs(Jason Mantzoukas) controlling the soundboard and he and Marissa still have their hilarious back and forth. Clearly she loves him, but he's not into her. Jessica St Clair and Jason Mantzoukas are both so excellent as these characters I'm filled with joy when I see that they're are going to be on a podcast together. They are great. Each episode of "Womp it Up!" is show is broken down into sections. On every podcast they will do a spot called "Hot Topix", where in, Marissa dishes the dirt on what's going down at Marina Del Ray High School(that's where the podcast takes place). Then there's "Listler's Love Lockdown", where Ms. Listler reads letters from someone who has a crush on someone else and proceeds to give them advice. They also have the "Spotlight On" section. In this part, they interview a friend, or teacher, or sometimes even former teachers from the school. In episode one, theater teacher, Dr. Lionel Drioche(the always hilarious Seth Morris) explains what it's like to be the theater teacher at Marina Del Ray High. In episode two, "Spotlight On" features Lil Nicky(Chris Gethard), a foreign exchange student from New Jersey, whose passions include ghost hunting and managing an acapella group called "Deep Treble". In episode three, we get to meet Mr. Jordache(Neil Casey). He's a former computer science teacher who had an incident in the men's locker room. Pretty hilarious to hear him explain the incident, I am not going to spoil it so just go listen. In the most recent "Womp It Up!" we get two guests for "Spotlight On". First, we have Marissa's step dad Seth(Brian Huskey reprising his role from "Comedy Bang Bang") and Dr Dennis Endercut, who writes a literary magazine and wants to talk about his bucket list. Each episode ends with Marissa reading a listeners email and giving her "sage" advice on what to do. In the beginning of the podcast we learn that this is a project for the STARS program that Ms. Listler started, which isn't a real thing. The STARS program they explain, is for the kids taking remedial classes. We also find out in the first episode that the podcast is all taking place in the library and that the principal does not know about it because her and Listler are enemies. I know this all sounds crazy and probably a little ridiculous, but fans of "Comedy Bang Bang" and the TV show "Playing House" know exactly what I'm talking about and they know how damn funny these two ladies are. The episodes, up to this point, come out every two weeks. As I said, they're only four in and each one is about an hour long, so there's plenty of time to catch up.

I highly recommend "Womp It Up!" Womp up the jamz everybody!

You can find "Womp it Up!" on the Earwolf network - here.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor at Seed Sing. What is better than reading about culture? Writing about Pop Culture. Join Ty's Pop culture team and write for Seed Sing. You can follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty gives his praise to the Tracy Morgan interview.

This is Ty's follow up to his article on Tracy Morgan.  You can read his original thoughts here.

I just watched the Tracy Morgan interview on the Today Show and that is one strong man. He showed a lot of strength in just doing it and he hit a home run. He didn't try to tell jokes or be funny, he just told the truth and showed that he's a real person that has gone through a terrible tragedy. He lost one of his best friends and he showed his true emotions on national television. He misses his friend dearly and just bringing up the name Jimmy McNair brought him to tears. Anyone who's lost someone can really feel for Tracy Morgan. Matt Lauer asked him if he was going to go back to performing or acting and Morgan responded as only he could. He said he loves doing comedy, referring to it as her, and he wants to get back to it, but he also said that he's not 100 percent yet. He has two scars on his heard where he suffered brain trauma and he's still using a cane from the broken leg, but today was the first step toward his return. This interview was everything I hoped it would be.

Tracy Morgan is on his way back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik

Before you watch Tracy Morgan on Today, Ty remembers what made him so damn funny

Tracy Morgan is a personal comedy idol of mine

This coming Monday, June 1st, I want all fans of comedy, especially my generation(millennials) to tune in to the Today Show and watch Matt Lauer's interview with the great Tracy Morgan. This will be his first interview since the horrific accident with a WalMart semi truck nearly a year ago. In fact, the first stand up show I saw was Tracy Morgan at the Saint Louis Funny Bone. I feel like a lot of people have forgotten how hilarious a sketch performer and comedic actor he is. He was a phenomenal cast member on Saturday Night Live with such memorable characters as Brian Fellows, Astronaut Jones and who could forget his great portrayal of Star Jones(quintessential line, "Yes, I am a lawyer" starting every sentence of the character). He was revitalized with his role as Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock. He's  also criminally underrated as an actor. He's the only one worth watching in a crappy movie like "Cop Out" and his scenes in the fantastic Chris Rock movie "Top Five" are some of the best comedic parts in a very funny movie. The fact that this accident happened was a terrible thing. Amongst the many reasons why it was so awful was, he was in development with FX for a TV series that for all intents and purposes seemed to be on the fast track to hilarity.

I don't think Tracy Morgan gets the credit he so achingly deserves. He's so very, very funny. So, do me and yourself a favor and tune in, as I will be doing, or DVR the interview with Matt Lauer and sit back and enjoy the mere fact that, at the very least, Tracy Morgan is on his way back. Let's just hope his full recovery comes sooner rather than later because the world needs some more hilarity from the great and very underrated Tracy Morgan.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik