LA-based comic Ian Karmel has spent the last few years writing alongside James Corden on CBS’ The Late Late Show, the 2017 and 2018 Grammys, and the 2016 Tony Awards. We sat down with the comedian to talk about writing for those award shows, and the challenge of writing late-night jokes in the Trump era.
Another season of the The Simpsons has come and gone, breaking another handful of records along the way. At this point in its history, after almost 30 years on the air, the show has become a well-oiled machine, churning out 20-25 episodes a year without hiccup (usually). So how does it all come together? Animatic…
Space is a very attractive setting for a movie—it’s the promise of mystery, the thrill of adventure, and the horror of the unknown, all wrapped up in a neat, often gorgeous package. The problem is that there aren’t many people who have been to space, so movies often have to guess and/or improvise the details. NASA…
With almost 48 seasons and more than 4,400 episodes aired, Sesame Street is as much an institution as any other show on television. Like anything with this kind of longevity, the people behind Sesame Street have had to deal with changing times. Kids these days are growing up using smartphones and social media, and…
The world of competitive eating is bizarre, fascinating, and often gross. Helping us make sense of the madness is ex-competitive eater and former wing-eating champion of the world Patrick Bertoletti. In the video above, he walks us through the preparation and horrifying aftermath of a standard eating competition.
Matthew Lillard has been in Hollywood for over 25 years, with roles in Twin Peaks: The Return, The Descendants, and Halt And Catch Fire. But one of his most recognizable roles is Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo, as Lillard has portrayed the live-action version and contributed his voice to the animated franchise. In the…
In Expert Witness, The A.V. Club talks to industry insiders to shed some light on how the pop culture sausage gets made. In this installment, we talk to the Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin cover band Led Zeppelin 2.
With over 25 years in Hollywood and 120 IMDB credits to his name, Matthew Lillard knows what it’s like being a working actor. But even with two and a half decades of industry experience and successful turns in Twin Peaks: The Return, The Descendants, and Halt And Catch Fire, he still finds himself auditioning and…
One of the more iconic images of the home invasion scene in Home Alone is Joe Pesci’s character getting his head blowtorched by a booby trap set up by Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister. The stunt is a cleverly executed instance of visual trickery involving a pane of glass and a mannequin. In the video above, Home…
Jon Lovett worked as a speechwriter for Hillary Clinton in the Senate and for Barack Obama in his first term as president. Earlier this year, he launched a weekly podcast, Lovett Or Leave It, where he’s joined by comedians, actors, and journalists to discuss the week’s top news. At the Now Hear This podcast festival,…
On Nickelodeon’s Legends Of The Hidden Temple, kids completed obstacle courses and answered trivia questions to uncover the secrets behind “hidden temples” guarded by an Olmec, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who has lent his voice to Spider-Man villains, flying bisons and winged lemurs, and the Tazmanian Devil in Space…
The new film Breathe explores the life of Robin Cavendish, a former disability rights advocate who was paralyzed from the neck down after contracting polio at age 28. Cavendish traveled the world and worked with his wife to improve the mobility and quality of life of people with disabilities. In the video above,…
Joe Kelly’s Deadpool comic-book run is arguably the definitive version of the character and played a major role in influencing future Deadpool directions. A lesser-known side character at the time, Deadpool was given his own title in 1997, helmed by Kelly, who transformed him into the wisecracking, fourth-wall…
Filmmaker Sean Menard has spent most of his career directing and producing documentaries, including Uninterrupted’s The Carter Effect. Executive-produced by Drake, the documentary explores the impact NBA All-Star Vince Carter had on the Canadian basketball scene when he signed with the Toronto Raptors in 1998. We…
In The Final Year, filmmaker Greg Barker followed President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team as it attempted to shape international policy in the last year of his presidency. After the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, we spoke with Barker and two members of that foreign policy…
One of the cooler stunts in the 1989 skateboarding movie Gleaming The Cube happens at the climax of the film, when Brian, played by tousle-haired Christian Slater, crashes through a glass window in a misguided attempt at heroics. In the video above, production designer John Muto explains how they pulled off the…
Nickelodeon’s Legends Of The Hidden Temple was basically American Gladiators with children and an archaeologic twist, with kids completing obstacle courses and answering trivia questions to uncover the secrets behind the temples. Serving as the announcer and the guardian of the temples was voice actor Dee Bradley…
In The Final Year, filmmaker Greg Barker followed former White House staffers on President Obama’s foreign policy team as they attempted to shape international policy in the last year of his presidency. While the film follows the team across multiple continents to Greenland, Japan, and Nigeria, a good portion of the…
Author and illustrator Marc Brown is best known for creating the Arthur franchise, both the book series and the Emmy-winning television show. While on tour promoting his new picture-book collaboration with R.L. Stine, Mary McScary, Brown stopped by our Chicago office to give two A.V. Club kids some advice about how to…
Carlos Alazraqui is best known for his extensive voice work, including being the original voice of Rocko and Spunky on Rocko’s Modern Life, and his live action work as Deputy James Garcia on Reno 911! One lesser-known credit to his name is the “Taco Bell chihuahua” of the late ’90s. Earlier this year, Alazraqui was…