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Television

The Embarrassing Early TV Commercials of Your Favorite Comic Actors

By Jason Bailey on

Last week, the folks at Gawker did a bit of celebrity archaeology, discovering a 1993 TV ad for the NRA that featured a very young Molly Shannon. The soon-to-be Mary Catherine reached out to the site, emphasizing that she appeared in the spot when she was — direct quote, with emphasis — “A STRUGGLING ACTRESS,” and while we understand her taking pains to separate the spot from her own views, she’s hardly the first future famous funny person whose early work was only humorous in retrospect, and unintentionally. After the jump, we’ve got early commercials by several of our favorite comic actors — all equally embarrassing. … Read More

Film

Video Essay: “All of Woody’s Surrogates”

By Jason Bailey on

Woody Allen’s flawed but funny new film To Rome with Love opens this Friday, and while it marks his first acting appearance in one of his movies since 2006′s Scoop, he plays the role of a retired father while continuing his tradition of writing his leading man as a “Woody Allen role” — played, in this film, by Jesse Eisenberg. In his early works, Allen would occasionally engage a young actor to play himself as a child, but as he got too old to play the leading man (okay, let’s face it, after he’d gotten a little too old to play the leading man), he began putting younger actors in roles that were still distinctively Woody-esque, and which said actors played as varying degrees of imitation. We’ve assembled a montage of those actors and some of their most Allen-inspired moments; check out our latest video essay after the jump. … Read More

Pop Culture

Sir Richard Branson Plans to Journey to the Center of the Earth

By Emily Temple on

There are lots of tricks afoot today, but here’s one we kind of wish was real. In a charming faux press release, Sir Richard Branson has announced his plans for Virgin Volcanic, a massive ride-along drill that he intends to use to explore the world’s volcanoes — bringing Tom Hanks, Seth Green, Barbara Kopple and will.i.am… Read More

Celebrity

Celebrities with Awesomely Strange Twitter Pictures

By Jennifer Lewis on

Ah, the Twitter profile picture. Which do you prefer — a glamor shot or an action shot? An indoor shot or an outdoor shot? A chimpanzee or an eagle? For most celebrities, Twitter is yet another medium for sharing overly attractive professional photos with the public. For others? It’s an opportunity to boast about that time they sipped a smoothie with Chewbacca. Check out 13 amusing celebrity Twitter profile pictures featuring bears, monkeys, Wookiees, and unsettling mustaches after the jump, and let us know your other favorites in the comments. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. It’s official: Conan O’Brien is gone after Friday’s show. But we don’t feel sorry for him: The deal with NBC is said to be worth around $45 million. [via USA Today]
2. Does anyone else find it strange that the same week Vampire Weekend hits No. 1 on the Billboard album chart,… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. An update from Alia Shawkat on the Arrested Development movie. [via Movieline]
2. This is real: “Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, rocketed into space today for a nine-day stay aboard the International Space Station, where he will lead a performance next week to raise awareness of water scarcity.” [via Bloomberg]
3. Seth Green and the “Robot Chicken” gang are bringing an animated project to FOX. [via THR]
4. There’s a new trailer for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox that looks really good. [via Collider]
5. Listen to a track from One Fast Move or I’m Gone, the Kerouac-inspired album from Sun Volt’s Jay Farrar and Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard. [via… Read More