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In a preview clip from Friday's edition of her Netflix show, comedian Chelsea Handler strung together three minutes worth of jokes about the Trump administration being racist that included some strange claims.Handler's show, which can actually be entertaining, often blends news and comedy in a fashion not dissimilar to what's done on "The Daily Show" or "Saturday Night Live's" Weekend Update segment. In fact, the clip released ahead of Friday's episode follows those formats pretty closely.The segment is supposed to function as a darkly humorous explainer on various kinds of racism in modern America. As Handler tackled the Ku Klux...

Comedian Mel Brooks says political correctness is the death of comedy. Brooks is currently preparing to open his stage version of the film Young Frankenstein in London’s Garrick Theater. As the theater prepares for an October opening, Brooks gave an interview about the show and his long career to BBC Radio 4’s Rebecca Jones.Asked if any of his films could get made today, Brooks replied, “No, no. I mean maybe Young Frankenstein and maybe a few but never Blazing Saddles because we have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy.” He continued, “It’s okay not to...

society's "stupidly politically correct" sensibilities will lead to the "death of comedy", the veteran Hollywood comedian Mel Brooks has warned. Brooks, known for his plethora of acclaimed comedy movies, said political correctness was becoming a stranglehold on comedians. "It's not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks," he said. "Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king's ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour." The producer and director said that his iconic western parody Blazing Saddles could not be made in today's political climate.

Mel Brooks: Blazing Saddles would 'never' be made today By Rebecca Jones Arts correspondent, BBC News 14 minutes ago From the section Entertainment & Arts Mel Brooks, one of Hollywood's funniest film-makers, has told the BBC political correctness is "the death of comedy". He said Blazing Saddles, his Western spoof about a black sheriff in a racist town, could "never" be made today. "It's OK not to hurt the feelings of various tribes and groups," he said. "However it's not good for comedy. "Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. It's the lecherous little elf whispering in the...

Happy birthday, Bob Newhart! The comedian turns 88 on September 5, 2017. Newhart has largely stepped out of the public eye, though he has been busy over the past month, giving interviews and appearing on talk shows to celebrate the 45th anniversary of The Bob Newhart Show. In that breakthrough sitcom, which aired on CBS from 1972 to 1978, Newhart perfected the low-key delivery and deadpan reactions that made him so distinctive as a comedian. Newhart has resisted dissecting his own understated comedic style (“I don’t want to find the secret. I’m afraid all the joy will go out of...

Shelley Berman, whose brittle persona and anxiety-ridden observations helped redefine stand-up comedy in the late 1950s and early ’60s, died early Friday morning at his home in Bell Canyon, Calif. He was 92. His publicist, Glenn Schwartz, said the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Berman, one of the first comedians to have as much success on records as in person or on television, was in the vanguard of a movement that transformed the comedy monologue from a rapid-fire string of gags to something more subtle, more thoughtful and more personal. The comedians of the preceding generation, Gerald Nachman...

<p>HOUSTON, TX—Although Joel Osteen took flak over the weekend for closing up his church to flood victims and all but disappearing during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the megachurch pastor reportedly returned to the city on his luxury yacht “S.S. Blessed” to make amends Tuesday by tossing copies of Your Best Life Now to stranded flood survivors.</p>

Nothing is stopping Kathy Griffin. After what appears to be a fake hacking announcement on her Twitter on Saturday, the 56-year-old comedian released a video on Sunday announcing her "Laugh Your Head Off" world tour, with a video showing her smiling and ready to take the microphone. "Are you ready for me to say some things that are so horrible I can never take them back?" she asks. The video and her Twitter page also features a photo of the comedian holding a globe in a shot similar to her controversial one, where she held a bloodied replica of President...

Trey Parker, a co-creator of the Comedy Central staple “South Park,” says the next season of the not-for-children cartoon is going to be scaling back on political humor, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Parker, who also voices several characters in the long-running satire, thought showrunners were falling into the “same trap” as "Saturday Night Live," he tells the the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Thursday. He didn’t want the show to turn into CNN, where viewers can just “tune in to see what we’re going to say about [President] Trump.” {..snip..}

When Kathy Griffin posed for a photoshoot holding a fake decapitated, bloody head of President Donald Trump in June, she likely didn’t think about the wide-reaching implications of her so-called “joke.” While her controversial stunt resulted in some serious professional consequences, it also earned her a lengthy visit from the U.S. Secret Service. Secret Service agents reportedly tracked down Griffin and interviewed her in person for more than an hour. Further, the investigation into the bloody head debacle remains open. Griffin’s attorney, Dmitry Gorin, has claimed the comedian was merely exercising her “First Amendment rights to tell a joke.” “When...

Using words including “betrayal,” “humiliating” and “covfefe” and suggesting that management had compared them to “dogs urinating on fire hydrants,” copy editors at the New York Times today let executive editor Dean Baquet and his heir apparent, Joseph Kahn, know exactly how they feel about taking the brunt of layoffs and buyouts as the Times expands its reporting ranks. The latest flare-up comes at a moment when the Times also is dealing with a libel lawsuit filed by former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin over a Times Op-Ed column erroneously linking her to violent attacks on public figures. In a...

This has been a tough week. The shooting, the incredibly crass reaction of the democratic party to it. I have found myself getting and staying angry. That means, or so it seems to me; it is a good time to sit back with a bowl of popcorn and watch something funny. This may be the funniest movie to come out of the PRC in 20 or 25 years. There have been several US versions of this (Meet the Fokkers) as well as one from South Korea but this one is better. It is really funny. This also shows the standard...

<p>Campbell yelled, shoved and even mocked spitting at the security guard before the very patient Philadelphia police officer had to handcuff and arrest her.</p> <p>“You’re arresting a girl for no f***ing reason,” she yelled in the officer’s face. “If I had my tits out and my ass hanging out you wouldn’t arrest me right?”</p>

Subtitle: Former FBI Director the Ultimate Inside Man SOTN Editor’s Note: The following exposé was originally posted as an excellent comment on Facebook Subject: Dropping the Hammer on Comey… Brilliant! There are very few crime/mystery novels that approach this true story for compelling drama, intrigue and brinkmanship (with the nation in the balance). Don’t believe the fake-media story that Trump made a mistake or huge gaffe by firing Comey. Don’t believe the media narrative from the left that it was an attempt to silence Comey from some investigation into Trump. Don’t believe the RINO narrative that Comey is a good...

Former FBI Director James Comey now believes that President Donald Trump was trying to influence his judgment about the Russia probe, a person familiar with his thinking says, but whether that influence amounts to obstruction of justice remains an open question.

Seth MacFarlane is gearing up for a trek across the final frontier. Fox announced this week that this fall, it will launch a new science-fiction TV series, called the "The Orville." The show will star funnyman executive producer and actor MacFarlane ("Family Guy," "Ted") as the commander of the titular starship. Adrianne Palicki ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") will portray MacFarlane's executive officer — and ex-wife — with a ragtag crew rounding out the cast. Think "Galaxy Quest" meets "Family Guy," and you're on the right track.

<p>PALM BEACH, Fla.—Hunter S. Thompson used to mail me giant photos of objects being blown to smithereens with dynamite or flung from some kind of skeet contraption so they could be exploded midair, and in most cases he was both the photographer and the destroyer. He would scrawl the precise date and time of the explosion on the bottom of the photo and copy it to the sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, who had repeatedly warned Thompson that he was in possession of illegal military ordnance, that he was in violation of pyrotechnic laws, and that he was in imminent danger of jail. As a Second Amendment radical, Thompson wanted to document exactly when, where, and how he had violated the law, then dare the law to do something about it. To me he would just write, “I’m on it.”</p>

I oppose the push to remove "The Late Show" comedian Stephen Colbert from the air because of his obscene tirade against President Donald Trump. In fact, I wish the video of his boorish diatribe would go viral. The best remedy against the political left's ongoing crusade to remake America in its own vulgar image is maximum exposure of its irrationality. If you haven't seen Colbert's rant, please watch it. It's titled "This Monologue Goes Out To You, Mr. President" on YouTube. There was nothing funny about it; there was nothing clever. It was just one shallow insult after another. I...

TV comedy cannot be too harsh when directed at President Donald Trump. There are no limits, and CBS "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert has proven it. Under the rubric of corporate loyalty after the president cut an interview short with CBS "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson and mocked his show as "Deface the Nation," Colbert called the president a "prick-tator," and then suggested the only thing the president's mouth is good for is being a holster for the sexual organ of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was on national television, and his audience roared -- and gasped. The notion...

The Daily Show's Hasan Minhaj took the stage at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night and addressed President Donald Trump's absence almost immediately.  "Welcome to the series finale of the White House Correspondents' Dinner," he began. "My name is Hasan Minhaj, or as I'll be known in a few weeks, number 830287."