Sunday Funnies - Are you pondering what I'm pondering.

A little blast from my past. Pinky and the Brain montage of the "Are you pondering what I'm pondering" responses.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg6OTTbKsmQ&w=420&h=315]

Its funny 'cause its true

So I have been an avid Adobe user for quites some time now. I've been using their tools for many years and, even though I'm not much of an artist, I've been known to use Photoshop from time to time. So when I saw someone link a video that said "Fotoshop by Adobé" I had to check it out. Even if it was bad, being an Adobe nerd I might get a chuckle or two. Turns out the video is quite funny. It seems to parody every personal beauty advertisement I can ever remember seeing. Everything from eyelashes to cheesey animations explaining how it smooths away wrinkles. And yes, Fotoshop by Adobé can seemingly do it all.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZyiOW9-uU?wmode=transparent&w=560&h=315]

In all seriousness what's most funny about this video is that it is true. Photoshop by Adobe does skew our idea of what natural, normal, sexy and beautiful is. Since it takes a computer program, it turns out these images are neither natural nor normal. However, breaking through that psychological barrier of created reality might turn out to be a real tough nut to crack.

And if you would like to see the behind the scenes video, I found that too. [vimeo 34793617 w=400 h=225]

BTS Fotoshop from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

As a bit of attribution, more information about this video can be found at Jesse Rosten's website.

Mock GOP Cyber Debate

As we enter the 2012 election year, we can already see things heating up on the political front. What does that mean fothe rest of us? Lots of great humor will be coming out over the next year that will have us LOLing and ROFLing. In the tradition of election year politcal humor, Funny or Die along with Yahoo have put together a Mock Cyber debate among the Republican contenders. All the candidates are played by some well named comedians or former boxer turned reality star.

I'll be the first to admit that this humor is heavy handed and a bit childish but it is also quite funny. This is a long-ish video but don't start watching then quit once you get the gist. The jokes get better as the "debate" progresses. Plus, if you stop watching you'll miss the cherry on top ending - Obama's response.

I'm somewhat political by nature, in that I take politics fairly seriously. However, it is just as important to laugh every once in a while as it is to take the actual politics seriously. Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments.

Billy Quan - Enter the New Year

My Sunday Funnies posts are usually posted, you guessed it, on Sundays. However, with January 1st being on a Sunday I decided to post an early version of the post as a New Year's service announcement. I have posted a few things from Almost Live! in the past. With 2012 being the year of the dragon (or at least it will be on January 23rd) I thought I'd provide the message via a psuedo-Chinese themed skit they often did on the show, Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan.

This episode of Mind Your Manners features Billy (played by Darrell Suto) getting ready for a New Year's Eve party. Suddenly a party crasher (John Keister) comes along and ruins his party before it even starts. Billy then proceeds to teach him some manners, Billy Quan Style.

Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled by request on this video so you'll have to watch it over on youtube. I hate that setting but at least the video is worth the extra click. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9I4ZNzsF4o&w=614&h=420]

My farewell show at Comedysportz San Jose

As you may have heard, from recent posts, I am moving to Seattle for a new job. They wanted me to start October 31st but I wasn't having any of it. Not because it is Halloween, though I did love Halloween at Gaia, but because I had an improv show to do November 3rd and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I have had a great time training at Comedysportz San Jose and had a blast with my fellow improvisers so I had to see how we'd all do at a honest to goodness Comedysportz formatted show. For your information, we did great. Also, my wife got some shaky video of most of the show. So sit back, relax and have a laugh at my expense. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLE0AF645B4E373768&hl=en_US&w=640&h=360] BTW - 80's bands should have been my category. Next time I will not falter!

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my previous show that I posted here during the summer. That is long form improv but still quite fun.

If you enjoyed this please tell all your friends by tweeting, posting to facebook, google plus, tumblr, myspace whatever. If you didn't enjoy this...shhhhhh...no one likes a whiner. ;) Seriously, I'd love to hear what you think of the show. If you have any samples of your own improv and/or stand up comedy I'd love to see them as well. Good alternatives for the game of 185? 80s bands that I should have said(this could be a long list)? Post them in the comments.

Who we f'ing need right now - Just Another Magic Monday

I follow a lot of different people on Twitter. One person I follow is David Copperfield. Recently he retweeted a post from someone else.

In these tough times, who we need now is David F**king Copperfield: bit.ly/qL4C0P #amen

Being intrigued, I followed the link and took a look at the premise of the post. Here's a little taste of the premise of the article.

These are dark times we’re living in, kids. Wall Street is occupied. The current GOP presidential “frontrunner” thinks was totally kidding when he said we need an electrified fence between the U.S. and Mexico. “Whitney” got a full season order. Yes, our collective mood is just short of “F*** this noise, we give up.”

What we need is a pick-me-up. What we need is a who, someone to come along and lift our spirits and make us smile, even if what we’re smiling at is an illusion.

Who we need is David Copperfield.

The original poster is right. In these tough times we do need David Copperfield - or someone else like him. Do you remember when he made the Statue of Liberty disappear? Walked through the Great Wall of China? Well the original poster does, along with quite a few other bits of business he performed.

Here's a link to the full article. This article has links to the following great tricks and illusions:

• Making the Statue of Liberty Disappear
• Walking through the Great Wall of China
• Vanishing the Orient Express
• Death Saw
• The Fan - on Oprah
• Cocoon
• Interlude
• Flying
• At home audience participation
• Ghost

[ad#Ellusionist] All of these are great illusions that David Copperfield brought to us in the past. I loved watching all of them. However, in the comments, there is a hidden gem. In the comments someone mentioned a parody of Mister Rogers's Neighborhood that he did as a routine. It is quite an entertaining bit of magic. The quality is low but it comes across fine.

Here it is, David Copperfield parodying Mister Rogers. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj5dCnbLQSg&w=480&h=360] So what are your thoughts. Do we f***ing need David Copperfield right now? Is there someone else you'd like to see take his place? In my opinion, these performances stand the test of time. He is a true master magician. There are new, younger performers out there but can they produce timeless classics such as these? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Sunday Funnies - Seattle

So a few weeks ago I made my way to Seattle on a top secret trip. I went, I saw some sites, met some friends and family and top secretly went to a job interview. I kinda hated the secrecy but things are the way they are in the job world. To make a long story short, I got the job and I'll very shortly be moving back to my old home of Seattle. Since I think of Almost Live! when I think of comedy in Seattle (for now anyway) and I need to be reminded about how to live in Seattle the following playlist is my comedy for the week. I thought about breaking this up into several weeks instead of a playlist but the move is coming faster than I think. [ad#Google Adsense] So here it is. Almost Live!'s Guide to Living in Seattle [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PL0834DD47CB00024E&hl=en_US&w=640&h=360] I am really excited about my move but even more excited to get involved in a new improv scene. Currently, there isn't a ComedySportz in Seattle so I'll need to check out Jet City Improv and Unexpected Productions.

High-Five'n White Guys - Sunday Funnies

This past weekend I got to revisit my old home of Seattle, WA. I wanted to do a Sunday Funnies post in honor of that trip. When I think about Seattle and humor I think of one thing...Almost Live! Anyone who was in Seattle from the late 80's through the 90's probably already knows about this show. For the uninitiated, Almost Live! was a show that came on before Saturday Night Live so thus they were Almost (Saturday Night) Live. It followed a similar skit comedy format with some recurring characters. Lately I've had people bring up high fives, especially high fiving yourself. I have shared the following video. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYafV2dN6vg&w=420&h=315]

Do you remember Almost Live!? Did you live in a city with something similar? Do share your thoughts. I love myself some comedy and I look forward to finding more.

Sunday Funnies - Improv-A-Ganza

I love improvisational comedy. I loved watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway." My wife could always tell when I was watching it because I would be truly laughing out loud and that laughter went to 11. I have also recently taken up studying improvisational comedy, first at DSI Comedy in Carrboro, North Carolina and now at ComedySportz in San Jose, CA.[ad#Google Adsense] Earlier this year when I found out Drew Carey was getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the promo reel they played talked about his new show "Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza". It started this week on GSN and I'm looking forward to seeing more comedy gold from many of the same faces that I saw on "Whose Line Is It Anyway." Barring an unfortunate cameo by Mr. #winning#15minutesAreUp himself Charlie Sheen, it has been as good as expected. The following is a clip from the show that once again had me LOLing.

Sunday Funnies - Insurance Execs

I know this is old, and was specific to a certain conversation that the country was having at the time. I'm just in a very annoyed at insurance BS right now and we still don't have a public option. So here is a short little video talking about who the real victims are in any talk about health care reform. [funnyordie id=041b5acaf5 width=512 height=328]

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