tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62962439249146995432012-01-04T20:24:32.069-05:00Noah Diamond writes about the comedy he loves, with featured video clips and memories of comic gold. Starring the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar, W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, and a gallery of other legends. Noah also writes about politics at nerofiddled.net.Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-15027683051392254332011-11-26T16:44:00.001-05:002011-11-26T19:06:07.580-05:00

Woody Allen: A Documentary, which premiered last week on the PBS series American Masters, can now be seen in its entirety on the series' website. Directed by the capable Bob Weide (previously responsible for excellent documentaries about the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields, as well as numerous episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm), the two-part, three-and-a-half-hour survey of Mr. Allen's career was

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-74932144058150961762011-09-01T23:12:00.001-04:002011-09-10T12:26:57.722-04:00

I have some truly terrible news for you. Please sit down and prepare yourself for sorrow. Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again, which features these two Modern Comic Heroes together in conversation before a live audience, and premieres on HBO on September 9, is only one hour long. I'm trying to type through the tears. The question is, do we even want to see an hour of this, if we can't

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-44459435340509028672011-09-01T22:34:00.001-04:002011-09-01T23:26:43.378-04:00

After three comedy albums, four books, four Broadway shows, fifty films, and dozens of miscellaneous side projects like directing operas and touring the world as a jazz clarinetist, Woody Allen really seems to be on a roll. His 2011 film, Midnight in Paris, was a true return to top form, even at the box office. His 2012 film, The Bop Decameron, sounds quite promising -- and he's in it. I say

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-10649760742747743612011-07-19T17:10:00.000-04:002011-07-19T17:10:44.219-04:00

In 1961, Harpo Marx published his wonderful autobiography, Harpo Speaks, and made the talk show rounds promoting it. (Take a moment to consider the irony of Harpo appearing on a talk show.) One of the shows he appeared on was The Groucho Show (a later incarnation of You Bet Your Life), in a very brief but very sweet public reunion of Harpo and his younger brother. In the post-Marx Brothers

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-81071588684107265012011-06-30T18:56:00.002-04:002011-06-30T19:08:40.373-04:00

Did you know that Mel Brooks' first two film projects won Academy Awards? Of course, The Producers, his seminal 1968 debut as screenwriter and director, won a surprise Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Less well-known is The Critic, an animated short released five years earlier. It was directed by Ernest Pintoff, and featured a hilarious improvisational voiceover from Brooks, and it won the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-50541260732465092252011-06-20T23:54:00.003-04:002011-06-21T00:12:16.197-04:00

Of all the wonderfully funny characters Larry David has created over the years, perhaps none has been as original or as fully-realized as the character of Larry David. This character is so doggedly irascible, and so incapable of showbiz niceties, that his talk show appearances, like his performances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, are often as uncomfortable as they are funny. (Sometimes they're even 

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-80907523649999155072011-05-29T15:19:00.001-04:002011-05-29T20:18:08.729-04:00

As regular visitors to the Comedy Palace may recall, back in 2009 I got a little too excited in my anticipation of Whatever Works. As I breathlessly reported then, that film seemed destined to be Woody Allen's great rebirth -- not just a return to form, but a return to comedy form, in what remains his only New York film since 2004's disappointing Melinda and Melinda. As it turned out, though, 

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-60201713322205063462011-05-14T11:48:00.000-04:002011-05-14T11:48:21.993-04:00

Although I doubt its example will be followed, I think Jerry Seinfeld's new site is one of the best on the web. Every day, Mr. Seinfeld posts three video clips, typically one or two minutes each, from his "personal archive" of standup comedy appearances. All you can do is watch them. You can't download them. You can't comment on them. You're not assaulted by a dozen little icons, demanding that

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-38434537394033306802011-04-16T19:35:00.003-04:002011-04-16T19:40:16.695-04:00

Three things: First, today is the 122nd birthday of Charlie Chaplin, and the adorable people at Google have marked the occasion by putting this tribute video on the Google homepage: Secondly, a YouTube user who calls himself Bansaraba has cleverly taken the well-known color test footage of the Marx Brothers on the set of Animal Crackers (originally included in the 1930 Paramount promotional

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-46582632539230410362011-01-27T10:13:00.002-05:002011-01-27T10:14:50.244-05:00

Visit the Groucho on the Air website

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-9233647834865318352011-01-15T11:33:00.002-05:002011-01-28T22:05:32.764-05:00

My Marx Brothers New Yorker cover design, "Tillo Marx" (which was  a winner of the magazine's Your Eustace contest last year, and was printed in the 2/15/10 issue) appears again in the current issue (1/17/11), in an advertisement promoting another contest. Since its original publication, several collectors have purchased prints of "Tillo Marx." One appears in the collection of Miriam Marx Allen,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-5035244503877114372011-01-05T17:34:00.000-05:002011-01-05T17:34:26.907-05:00

Marxists know and love Andy Marx -- grandson of Groucho Himself -- from the fleeting appearances he makes in Marx literature such as Steve Stoliar's excellent Raised Eyebrows, Hector Arce's trailblazing Groucho, and Charlotte Chandler's rambling Hello, I Must Be Going. Andy Marx  (son of Arthur) was a regular presence in Groucho's home during the "living legend" period, and we love him for two

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-65458266551034686842010-12-13T00:19:00.001-05:002011-01-05T16:43:10.709-05:00

If you're going to be anywhere near New York City on January 29, 2011, around 8:00 pm, and you don't have anything really important to do, you might consider paying a visit to the Bushwick Project for the Arts, 304 Meserole Street, Brooklyn (L train to Montrose), to see me as Groucho Marx in the first performance of a new show called Groucho on the Air. Groucho on the Air recreates, before a

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-26906569839203060612010-11-19T01:35:00.006-05:002010-11-19T01:41:38.466-05:00

Here are the final moments from "The Incredible Jewel Robbery," a short comedy with no dialogue. It starred Harpo and Chico Marx and was broadcast on CBS's General Electric Theater on March 8, 1959. At the very end, Groucho makes a surprise appearance -- uncredited and unpublicized, because he was still appearing on NBC in You Bet Your Life. Groucho delivers the only spoken line in the piece. "

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-47442033500474101532010-10-16T16:49:00.003-04:002010-10-18T00:59:59.636-04:00

This beautiful photograph (which comes to us by way of the great George Bettinger, and can be seen full-size at the Facebook Marx Bros. Archive) shows us three giants of comedy -- and three of my very greatest heroes -- sharing a laugh and a smile in the spring of 1972. Charlie Chaplin had returned to the United States from his exile in Switzerland in order to accept an honorary Academy Award. (

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-52233151902399436122010-10-12T18:29:00.000-04:002010-10-12T18:29:44.282-04:00

Comedy Palace favorites Nichols and May have not worked together as an active comedy team in almost fifty years. But because of their subsequent independent careers -- Mike Nichols as one of our best directors, and Elaine May as one of our best screenwriters -- they remain linked, even when they're not collaborating on a film, as in The Birdcage and Primary Colors. Earlier this year, the American

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-12354313672473636032010-10-08T21:10:00.005-04:002010-10-10T19:37:37.152-04:00

We all wonder what we'd be doing if we were not doing what we're doing. Here's Woody Allen's answer, from a 1984 interview on French television.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-53779474577528492972010-10-02T08:56:00.001-04:002010-10-02T09:28:34.848-04:00

Today is Groucho Marx's birthday -- his 120th, were he still with us, but as he himself cautioned, "If you keep having birthdays you will eventually die." The world has been going on without Groucho for nearly 34 years now, but the comedy he left behind is very much alive, and one despairs to envision the world without it. We have three birthday tributes today, here at the Comedy Palace. The

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-7522298873961104542010-10-01T23:27:00.005-04:002010-10-13T00:52:20.734-04:00

Try to stay calm and contain your excitement as Noah's Comedy Palace unveils a new feature -- our Gift Shop, powered by Amazon. Here you'll be able to purchase books, videos, and recordings referenced on this site, all at discounted prices. A portion of what you spend will go to the Comedy Palace, thereby helping us to stay open. New products will be added all the time. For our grand opening,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-55848587094002344902010-09-30T21:46:00.004-04:002010-10-12T17:09:01.789-04:00

In 1967, Groucho appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show. The appearance is noteworthy for a number of reasons, not least of which is the obvious mutual admiration between these two comic giants. After some banter, laced with improvisational detours (and Gleason struggling to keep it together), they perform a song, with Gleason in character as Reggie van Gleason III, and Groucho making his final

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-3439507933275554942010-09-23T22:13:00.006-04:002010-09-30T15:00:07.565-04:00

We all know that one of Groucho's most celebrated roles was Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush in A Day at the Races, and some of us know that one of Groucho's signature songs was called "Dr. Hackenbush," but the great disappointment is that Groucho doesn't sing "Dr. Hackenbush" in A Day at the Races. At least, not until now. Enjoy this latest service to humanity from Noah's Comedy Palace. A Day at the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-64757688253208980032010-09-16T22:07:00.006-04:002010-09-22T11:00:34.458-04:00

In case you missed tonight's screening for the Save Marx Brothers Place campaign, here is The Brothers, my affectionate tribute to my beloved Marx Brothers. I hope you enjoy it.Many thanks to everyone who attended, and to Susan Kathryn Hefti, Leslee Browning, and the 93rd Street Beautification Association. Learn more about the cause here.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-54897396397558568482010-09-14T19:17:00.004-04:002010-09-14T19:27:50.457-04:00

This Thursday evening at the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library, the 93rd Street Beautification Association is hosting a free film screening, which will include my short film The Brothers -- a Marxian montage. The event begins at 6:00 pm, and you can find all the details here. And now you can even watch the trailer:

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-75713701105338430452010-09-08T16:24:00.006-04:002010-09-08T17:04:04.527-04:00

If you've been following the campaign to Save Marx Brothers Place -- or even if you haven't -- you'll want to be at the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library (112 East 96th Street, between Park and Lexington) at 6:00 pm next Thursday, September 16. In support of the effort to preserve the Marx Brothers' childhood home and the historic block where it's located, the 93rd Street

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-29744604801984762982010-07-19T15:22:00.004-04:002010-07-19T15:42:23.979-04:00

For some time now, there's been a noble campaign afoot to designate 179 East 93rd Street -- the childhood home of the Marx Brothers -- as an official New York City landmark. This would protect the building (which is still a private home) from unscrupulous developers who would like to obliterate all vestiges of our city's glorious past and replace them with condominiums, sports clubs, and

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-69498307319390992482010-06-11T16:27:00.009-04:002010-09-22T12:25:08.598-04:00

The current issue of Harper's includes a brilliant short story by Robert Coover entitled "The War Between Sylvania and Freedonia." The story is a straight-faced, surprisingly moving account of the war depicted in the Marx Brothers' masterpiece Duck Soup, delivered in the terse manner of a solemn military history. Coover ingenuously fills in details missing from the film, while also granting us

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-6333958055969233532010-05-01T13:38:00.001-04:002010-05-02T12:42:12.725-04:00

By now, we've had plenty of time go get used to the idea of people other than Woody Allen playing the Woody Allen character in his films. It started in 1994, when John Cusack took the Woody role in Bullets Over Broadway. That worked extremely well; Woody was clearly too old to play a struggling, idealistic young playwright, and Cusack brought just enough Woody Allen mannerism to the role, without

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-24110276250055337222010-03-23T13:46:00.018-04:002010-03-23T21:53:02.668-04:00

Mel Brooks has confirmed that he is at work on Blazing Saddles, the stage musical. This is not much of a surprise. His most recent work for Broadway, Young Frankenstein, contained in the lyrics of its finale an explicit promise that Blazing Saddles would be next. I'm not entirely sure it's good news. The Producers musical, I think, is brilliant; Young Frankenstein less so. The Brooks bravado is

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-86798139451180135252010-03-18T19:13:00.004-04:002010-03-19T09:24:41.308-04:00

A new print of Animal Crackers has been making its way around the country, screening at art cinemas and college campuses. The Marx Brothers made Animal Crackers at the Kaufman-Astoria Studio in Queens in 1930; it was adapted from their third Broadway show. It is, in my opinion, their second-best movie (after Duck Soup), and perhaps the one which most rewards repeated viewings. ("The dialogue,"

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-2247155190955484082010-02-08T09:30:00.004-05:002010-02-08T12:13:25.454-05:00

My entry in The New Yorker's 2010 "Your Eustace" contest, "Tillo Marx," has been chosen as one of the winners. (The New Yorker's inaugural issue, in 1925, came out at the height of the Marx Brothers' early Broadway stardom, and Groucho -- under his real name, Julius Henry Marx -- was an early contributor to the magazine.) To see my entry, click here. View a slideshow featuring all of this year's

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-81281703480211774002010-01-14T01:00:00.000-05:002010-01-14T01:00:50.346-05:00

In 1972, at the age of 82, Groucho Marx was invited to the Cannes Film Festival to receive the French Legion of Honor Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. I don't speak French, but it sounds pretty impressive. At this stage in Groucho's life, known among Marxists as the Living Legend period, Groucho was being honored and celebrated everywhere he went. The same year as the French thing

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-84734580028474949872010-01-13T08:52:00.002-05:002010-01-14T00:08:52.013-05:00

As long as the Internet continues to be a treasure trove of forgotten audiovisual gems, I'm going to keep bringing them to you. To continue with yesterday's theme of vintage Woody Allen, today I present three more clips from the dawn of his celebrity.The following appearance on The Jack Parr Show is from 1964. It predates everything Allen ever did on film; at this point, he was a television

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-86427847959539484882010-01-12T09:15:00.007-05:002010-04-02T14:30:35.955-04:00

Today at the Comedy Palace, another rare look at some vintage Woody Allen comedy. The following clip comes from Allen's 1965 appearance on The Andy Williams Show, when he was promoting What's New Pussycat. That mostly awful film was his cinematic debut. Starring Peter O'Toole and Peter Sellers, Pussycat was directed by Clive Donner from Allen's screenplay. Here and there, the movie offers a hint

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-16725463270505956072009-12-30T09:29:00.008-05:002010-03-23T21:53:42.343-04:00

Last night's CBS broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors included lovely tributes to Robert DeNiro, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, and Bruce Springsteen, if you enjoy that kind of thing. What I tuned in for, of course, was the Mel Brooks portion of the evening, which turned out to be delightful and surprisingly poignant. Carl Reiner broke news when, in his introduction, he announced his intention to

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-21239340779565374772009-12-27T21:46:00.001-05:002009-12-27T21:48:25.268-05:00

My entry in this year's New Yorker Eustace Tilly Contest.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-66446590736148124312009-12-06T22:39:00.009-05:002010-03-23T16:22:39.633-04:00

At the Kennedy Center Honors this weekend, the great Mel Brooks was honored (along with Robert DeNiro, Bruce Springsteen, Grace Bumbry, and Dave Brubeck). To really enjoy it, we’ll have to wait until December 29, when CBS broadcasts the ceremony. But in the meantime, there’s this priceless video of President Obama paying tribute to Brooks during the honorees’ reception in the East Room of the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-55376749887973382032009-11-24T22:41:00.010-05:002009-11-25T10:15:02.623-05:00

It’s nice to get a little bit more of something you love, when you thought you never would. The ultimate example of this was when we unexpectedly got three new Beatles songs in 1995 (on The Beatles Anthology). We’ve experienced something close to that feeling in recent weeks. Against all expectations, and in the strangest and most appropriate way possible, there is suddenly another episode of

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-31060422424328615992009-11-13T21:04:00.001-05:002009-11-13T21:08:08.062-05:00

Yesterday’s Times included a nice article about Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, who are promoting the new 2000 Year Old Man boxed set. (Apparently the HBO special reported this summer is no longer in the works, as there’s been no recent mention of it.) The Times interview contains a lot of stories which are very familiar, from previous Reiner/Brooks interviews, but there’s a touching tidbit about

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-9707017362594671802009-11-05T08:20:00.009-05:002009-11-05T14:51:40.189-05:00

Last Monday, Bill Cosby was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor -- the second most prestigious award a funny person can receive, after laughter itself. The Mark Twain Prize is for giants only. Its previous recipients, since the award originated in 1998, are Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Neil Simon

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-14871034077793771662009-11-02T12:24:00.008-05:002009-11-25T08:34:05.595-05:00

Larry David continues to make us wait for the real substance of the Seinfeld reunion arc on Curb Your Enthusiasm, which apparently will dominate the latter two of the three remaining episodes in the season. Meanwhile, he's found plenty of ways to stretch the stylistic possibilities of Curb; last week's bizarre flashback to the Sixties is one example; this week's mob movie treatment of Larry's

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-78901470335616920122009-10-21T08:59:00.007-04:002009-11-25T08:33:38.355-05:00

We're in the midst of two big comedy events on television, which deserve a word here.First of all, we're three parts into the new six-part Monty Python documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut), airing on IFC. So far, the documentary is compulsively enjoyable, even though there have already been too many Python reunions, revivals, and retrospectives in the last decade. Since

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-12411568626418934242009-10-04T12:10:00.006-04:002009-11-25T08:33:25.479-05:00

The lack of recent updates to Noah's Comedy Palace can be explained in several ways -- increased activity on the Nero Fiddled political blog (including our new video, "Corporations Are People Too"), freelance work, and songwriting (for a forthcoming political project to be announced eventually). Also, I've been working on a book about comedy, and much of the writing effort I'd normally direct

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-44121147485964511942009-07-31T09:50:00.008-04:002009-11-25T08:33:05.190-05:00

Yesterday, Larry David appeared at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, and answered some burning questions about the Seinfeld reunion which shall grace the upcoming seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.David explained:The context is that for years I've been asked about a Seinfeld reunion. I would always say, "No. There's not going to be a reunion show. We would never do that.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-80219769618975802012009-07-29T17:15:00.015-04:002009-07-30T01:19:30.227-04:00

A Rare Look at Woody Allen Performing Standup in 1965Woody Allen's attitude toward his own work has always been complicated. He's utterly obsessed with a project while he's working on it, and completely dismissive once it's complete. He never watches his films after finishing them, and claims, for example, not to have seen one frame of Take the Money and Run since 1969. This unwillingness to

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-70847684974767393182009-07-28T18:46:00.003-04:002009-07-28T19:30:34.731-04:00

Once every so often in human history, a comic genius comes along with a mind that moves at the speed of light. Improvisational skill is not necessarily going to make you a great comedian -- and improv as a subgenre is, in my view, usually a lot more fun for the performers than for the audience -- and there have been plenty of great comedians who couldn't improvise at all. But among those who can,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-14337025292537627482009-07-24T19:01:00.003-04:002009-07-25T00:35:05.168-04:00

I loved comedy as soon as I saw it, and my formative years were greatly informed by chance encounters (leading to passionate obsessions) with the work of the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen. But I loved comedy long before I knew who those people were. The Muppet Show was one reliable early vision of life as a tapestry of gags. It also gave me my first glimpse of such Modern Comic Heroes as Danny

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-78296806619002751132009-07-14T16:34:00.022-04:002010-05-18T22:14:26.481-04:00

Putting together yesterday's article about Stiller and Meara, it was hard to choose a Seinfeld clip representative of Jerry Stiller's work as Frank Costanza. Eventually, I allayed my frustration by tilting my head skyward and shouting at the top of my lungs, "SERENITY NOW!" Then I thought of my favorite Frank Costanza moment (Frank at the coffee shop translating a Korean phrase as "This guy --

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-60402181108490309822009-07-14T10:17:00.006-04:002010-05-18T22:17:01.510-04:00

The abrupt departure of Nichols and May from the comedy scene, in 1961, left a void which was ably filled by their colleagues Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Like Nichols and May, Stiller and Meara were comics who brought an improvisational, sketch comedy aesthetic to nightclubs; also like Nichols and May, they got their start with the Compass Players (which later morphed into Second City). Unlike

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-6801312666725226872009-07-10T10:20:00.008-04:002010-01-14T00:47:19.020-05:00

Of course, we hate it when old movies are colorized. One of the nice developments of the DVD era has been a greater respect for archival preservation; most films are now available in widescreen format, and colorization is no longer in vogue. But history has been good enough to give us occasional honest glimpses of our heroes in color. The classic comedians of America's golden age of entertainment

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-22516949887178844792009-07-07T17:09:00.012-04:002010-05-18T22:19:30.038-04:00

When I was sixteen, I was cast in a regional production of a mediocre musical called Kuni-Leml, which had been reasonably successful Off Broadway in 1984. It was a Yiddish-accented thing set in the Old Country and clearly intended to capitalize on the success of Fiddler on the Roof. (After seeing it, my uncle Rick memorably envisioned the author saying, "Gee, I wish I'd written Fiddler. I think I

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-11830495780887165712009-07-07T10:38:00.005-04:002009-07-07T14:54:44.037-04:00

Groucho Marx aptly described Margaret Dumont as "practically the fifth Marx Brother," and watching the films today, we find her much more beautiful than the prettier women who bore us to death in between the comedy scenes. At the Circus even has Eve Arden in a leotard, stuffing money into her cleavage (Groucho: "There must be some way I can get that money back, without getting in trouble with the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-68379424054557915332009-07-03T08:26:00.003-04:002010-01-14T00:47:41.218-05:00

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and of course Americans love to celebrate the country's Independence with all the classic trappings: Fireworks, picnics, and Mel Brooks. In this priceless 1970 clip from The Dick Cavett Show, Brooks does Sinatra doing "America the Beautiful."Watch it a few more times and have a great holiday weekend. The Comedy Palace returns soon.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-46881518478755251692009-07-01T12:59:00.004-04:002010-03-24T23:47:17.931-04:00

"Comedy is the vanguard of life. It's the joyous point of it all for me. It's the opposite of death -- a protest and scream against death. I scream to the heavens, 'I'm alive! I'm alive! Listen, people are laughing! Listen!'"Mel Brooks, 1987Comedy is the opposite of death. Folks, I beg your indulgence tonight. One thing I haven't been, so far, at Noah's Comedy Palace, is reflective. I really try

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-62021679624064446842009-07-01T09:31:00.003-04:002009-07-01T09:59:13.564-04:00

Three quick comedy news stories for you today. The biggest story, of course, is the finally-certified election of the first comedian ever to serve in the United States Senate, the honorable Al Franken of Minnesota. Read all about it today on my political blog.In less dramatic, but still interesting news, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner are apparently on the verge of reviving the 2000 Year Old Man. A

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-11198856765598362452009-06-30T15:59:00.011-04:002009-10-04T12:55:16.125-04:00

I usually like to throw curveballs here at the Comedy Palace. I try not to cite the most obvious examples or post the most famous clips. But there are times when there's no way around it; I'm not going to talk about Abbott and Costello and not highlight "Who's on First." Similarly, in considering the greatest cross-dressing comedies, my conclusion is that the first two you think of actually are

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-65918910389644367122009-06-28T14:11:00.010-04:002009-06-28T21:27:22.837-04:00

Some artists and entertainers strive to be innovative, but real innovation is almost always an accident. Truly groundbreaking work rarely comes from artists who set out deliberately to experiment. It comes from those who set out to entertain their audiences, and through some special quirk of expression, or the need to compensate for a shortcoming, stumble upon something that's never been done

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-8478717728242727492009-06-26T20:38:00.010-04:002010-05-18T22:21:16.864-04:00

There were many great comedians in the golden age of radio, but Fred Allen was the only satirist. Ironically, although Allen is a somewhat forgotten figure compared to the other giants of his era, his influence seems greater than theirs in this age of self-conscious media satire. You can't get to The Simpsons and South Park and The Daily Show and The Colbert Report without going through Allen's

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-73201302743705638582009-06-24T22:00:00.016-04:002009-07-07T11:27:50.418-04:00

So there's this moment in Animal Crackers when the lights go out, and Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont sit there in the dark and exchange some dialogue. Over the years, many Marxists have noticed that if you look closely, the guy sitting in the dark with Dumont doesn't really look like Groucho. Some have theorized that it's actually Zeppo.It's hard to discern in this YouTube clip, but here's the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-66885947405929330952009-06-24T11:42:00.005-04:002009-06-25T09:39:12.268-04:00

Everyone knows that Inspector Jacques Clouseau, as embodied by the great Peter Sellers, was one of the outstanding comic creations of the twentieth century. It wasn't Sellers' favorite role, but it was our favorite Sellers role, and he obliged us through five films. On paper, Clouseau was intended as a gentle parody of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. What elevated him to

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-2541399693644962242009-06-22T00:00:00.008-04:002009-06-22T13:46:51.363-04:00

Last month, in what is surely one of the great victories in the history of comedy, Mel Brooks' musical version of The Producers opened in Berlin. The show, as I'm sure you know, is a symphony in schtick, about two men who endeavor to produce the worst musical in history. Both the 1968 film and the 2001 musical benefit from taking place in two worlds. There's the world of Bialystock and Bloom, a

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-58245673293441510432009-06-20T20:21:00.009-04:002009-11-25T08:31:56.869-05:00

I wish I could report that Whatever Works is a fine return to form for America's greatest comic auteur. I wish I could say that back on the soil of Manhattan, Woody Allen has produced what he used to give us quite regularly, and hasn't in many years: A great comedy. I really, really wish I could say that. It would have been a dream come true.As it turns out, Whatever Works is a mid-level effort.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-3753901701210805682009-06-20T01:07:00.006-04:002010-05-18T22:22:29.040-04:00

The talk show is a mixed bag. There's no bag more mixed. Undoubtedly, some of the most inane blather ever spoken has been spoken on television talk shows, and if you watched a lot of them back to back, it would probably be difficult to avoid the feeling that you were witnessing the decline of human civilization. All of that having been said, some of the most important performances by our greatest

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-36187622730905217702009-06-19T09:09:00.004-04:002009-06-19T10:16:29.234-04:00

Nathan Birnbaum, born in 1896, knew from the time of his early childhood that all he wanted was to be in show business. Under various identities, he spent about twenty years bouncing around smalltime vaudeville. Sometimes he was a singer; sometimes a dancer. He got so many laughs for singing and dancing that he decided to try being a comedian. Now calling himself George Burns, he stumbled along

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-19167056843909163632009-06-18T10:53:00.007-04:002009-06-18T14:47:46.177-04:00

A great many of the outstanding comedic artists of the twentieth century started in the mountains. That's the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, where a series of legendary resorts -- among them Grossinger's, the Pines, Kutsher's, the Concord, and the Nevele -- served as sunny stomping grounds for middle-class singles and couples fleeing the inferno of New York City in the summer. The guests

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-83161465358114388892009-06-18T08:40:00.002-04:002009-11-25T08:31:39.297-05:00

Whatever Works, the fortieth film written and directed by Woody Allen, opens tomorrow in New York and Los Angeles, and July 1 elsewhere. Since Allen is one of the few Modern Comic Heroes active today, and since this is his first New York City comedy in several years, the Comedy Palace has been following its emergence (see these past entries for the story so far). I'll review the film here after I

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-75210424664069116132009-06-17T00:01:00.005-04:002010-10-12T16:54:44.573-04:00

Mike Nichols and Elaine May were one of the best comedy teams in history, and they worked together as a comedy team for only five years. They first encountered each other in Chicago, among the ranks of the Compass Players (later known as Second City). In 1957 they began performing little improvisational two-scenes in nightclubs in Chicago; by 1958 they were appearing in New York and recording

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-24897174897131130822009-06-16T07:45:00.001-04:002009-07-14T10:31:34.345-04:00

There are great comedians and there are great actors, and although some comedians are great actors, and some great actors are great comedians, and some comedians and actors blur the line between those distinctions, I can't think of a comedian more blessed with acting talent than Lily Tomlin.During the standup comedy revolution of the Sixties, when Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Cosby

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-89205810883793381512009-06-15T08:43:00.006-04:002010-09-28T15:53:47.877-04:00

The Library of Congress has just announced this year's twenty-five new additions to the National Recording Registry, and the list includes a Comedy Palace favorite, the seminal 1961 album 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. The Registry now contains 276 recordings, thirteen of which belong to the category of comedy. Many of these are early artifacts from the dawn of recorded sound,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-47040220725241351772009-06-13T08:00:00.010-04:002011-06-21T08:06:08.844-04:00

To the names of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and O'Neill, I would add William Abbott and Louis Francis Cristillo, for they are the authors of one of the greatest pieces of dramatic writing in the history of the stage. They were humble about it, though; they didn't knock down the doors of universities and point out the superiority of their seven pages. To their dying days, they let the world pretend

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-59647134969690069332009-06-12T07:00:00.002-04:002010-10-12T16:56:57.087-04:00

Here's what you have to know to appreciate the comedy of Jack Benny: 1. Jack Benny is cheap. 2. Jack Benny plays the violin badly. 3. Jack Benny is 39. That'll do it; armed with those three facts, the sound of his voice, and/or the sight of his face, you are now fully equipped to enjoy Jack Benny. You're in. (In real life, Jack Benny wasn't cheap at all, and he was only 39 for one year. His

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-91565293761102951842009-06-12T06:45:00.003-04:002009-11-25T08:31:13.205-05:00

Woody Allen's fortieth film, Whatever Works, opens in New York and Los Angeles one week from today, and more details and impressions have emerged since the last time I wrote about it.Larry King gave the film very high praise last night, when he appeared on Tavis Smiley to promote his new memoir:SMILEY: These guys, these friends of yours, who you grew up with, who you have lunch with --KING:

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-20227009873065931862009-06-11T11:44:00.004-04:002009-06-11T17:18:23.613-04:00

If sketch comedy reached its zenith with Your Show of Shows, it went way past its zenith with Monty Python. On the original Flying Circus (1969 - 1974), and then in films, books, records, and live appearances, the six kindred comic spirits of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam took comedy to places where it had never been before. It wasn't just

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-78204881653740761022009-06-10T10:47:00.011-04:002009-06-10T18:02:24.047-04:00

Today at the Comedy Palace, we welcome back our most frequent headliners, the immortal Marx Brothers, in one of their most celebrated accomplishments: The mirror scene from Duck Soup. Like all of the Brothers' great accomplishments, the scene accomplishes absolutely nothing.Groucho is Rufus T. Firefly, leader of the nation of Freedonia. Harpo and Chico are Pinky and Chicolini, two spies for the

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-26919620699702506782009-06-09T11:09:00.008-04:002010-01-14T00:47:55.564-05:00

Has there ever been a more naturally funny comedian than Bill Cosby? If he did not have that incredibly distinctive style of delivery, he could still get huge laughs just with his face; if he didn't have the delivery or the face, his material alone would get the job done. There are very few comedians I can think of who are so abundantly gifted that they would still be great even if they only had

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-51748288003679685142009-06-08T19:10:00.000-04:002009-06-08T19:10:45.503-04:00

Among the nicknames and titles bestowed upon popular entertainers -- the Velvet Fog, America's Sweetheart, Uncle Miltie, the Fab Four -- Jackie Gleason's was the best. He was known as the Great One. ("I was not offended by that," he once told an interviewer.) Greatness was the defining attribute of Gleason's life and work. He had physical greatness, in terms of both girth and agility, and he

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-72789073714106399422009-06-06T01:27:00.001-04:002009-06-06T01:48:08.080-04:00

W.C. Fields, who was as contemptuous of reporters and biographers as he was of everyone else, spread so many wild falsehoods about himself that it's impossible to know exactly what his story was. It does seem to have been verified, to the general satisfaction of scholars and aficionados, that he was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby, Pennsylvania in 1880. His father was a carnival huckster,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-23013401316920766262009-06-05T10:10:00.008-04:002009-06-10T17:13:21.372-04:00

If you've been attending the Comedy Palace with any regularity -- or if you've met me once -- you know that while I love classic comedy in general, my heart especially belongs to the Marx Brothers. Words like genius and brilliant get thrown around so casually that they tend to lose their meanings. I consider it part of my life's work to draw a distinction between artists who were merely talented

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-48178807323581344832009-06-04T10:59:00.006-04:002009-06-04T19:59:49.774-04:00

Most great comedians have musical talent. Comedy and music require many of the same skills: A sense of rhythm and timing, a mastery of the human voice as an instrument of expression. There is also a connection between comedy writing and lyric writing. A good lyric, like a good joke, must resolve, must "click" in the ear, to be satisfying. Good lyrics, whether or not they're intended to be funny,

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-87198276632059204282009-06-03T12:41:00.005-04:002009-06-03T17:34:44.361-04:00

Almost none of the comedy stars of the silent era managed to continue their success in talkies. Chaplin stubbornly persisted in making silent comedies (with synchronized soundtracks) through the late Thirties, and when he finally gave in to speech, some of his essential magic was gone. Buster Keaton, too, seemed to lose his figurative voice when people heard his literal one. Conversely, W.C.

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-10490898810745857672009-06-02T09:50:00.009-04:002010-01-14T00:48:15.935-05:00

On June 19, Woody Allen's Whatever Works opens in New York and Los Angeles. Starring Larry David, it's Allen's first film shot in New York since the disappointing Melinda and Melinda (2004), and it appears to be the first true Woody Allen comedy in a long time. (See Noah's Comedy Palace, May 25). Early reviews and articles have emphasized the remarkable fact that Whatever Works is Allen's

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-77097047524640194202009-06-01T11:26:00.006-04:002009-06-01T13:11:04.956-04:00

And then there's Jerry Lewis. Based on the overproduced and thinly-conceived solo films he made in the late Fifties and Sixties, there is a strong impulse to relegate Lewis to the roster of talented comedians whose stuff just doesn't work because it's not that funny. (The Three Stooges, in my opinion, belong in this category.) In his solo career, Lewis suffered from what Stephen Sondheim (

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-32999325867260152922009-05-31T20:04:00.007-04:002009-05-31T22:15:14.235-04:00

I've often said, with just a modicum of exaggeration, that Charlie Chaplin is the only performer who can move me without words. There are very few silent comedians who really do it for me (Harpo Marx is different, because although he never spoke, his comedy often still came from words), and very few artists who are not comedians have moved me at all. But Charlie Chaplin can do it without uttering

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-49674027523160803002009-05-30T15:44:00.013-04:002009-05-30T18:11:42.444-04:00

It's our Saturday special here at the Comedy Palace: Two legends for the price of one. The following clip from The Jack Benny Program, originally broadcast on April 3, 1955, is one of the few perfect things you will ever encounter in this world. Jack -- disguised as a mustachioed character named Ronald Forsythe -- appears as a contestant on Groucho's quiz show You Bet Your Life. This is two

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-72099464849204193762009-05-29T09:45:00.006-04:002009-05-29T20:52:47.382-04:00

Danny Kaye is often wrongfully excluded from lists of the great comic artists. Some remember him more as a singer. It doesn't help that his weakest work -- in bland films like Hans Christian Andersen and White Christmas -- is now more widely seen than his best work. Kaye fits into that category of comedians who never made a film quite worthy of their talent; it was in live performance that his

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-87362355560654477502009-05-28T08:11:00.008-04:002010-09-22T11:58:23.051-04:00

Few comic achievements stand taller than The 2000 Year Old Man, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's inspired, infinitely durable double act from the fifties and sixties. Modelled on the "Professor" sketches Reiner did with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows, the act had the simplest possible format: An intrepid reporter interviews the oldest man in the world. What made it brilliant was Brooks' manic flair

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-56653908994611428152009-05-27T12:16:00.006-04:002009-07-07T11:27:27.996-04:00

Today's clip comes right from the top. Modern American comedy begins with the Marx Brothers, who in my opinion are the greatest artists the world has ever known, in any medium. Their later films proved that all they really had to do was show up, but their early films -- from number two (Animal Crackers, 1930) through number five (Duck Soup, 1933) still comprise the rock on which virtually all

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-37718773695703028322009-05-26T20:45:00.006-04:002009-05-27T12:12:22.377-04:00

In addition to scintillating commentary on the art and craft of comedy, Noah's Comedy Palace shall offer lovingly selected clips of the greatest comedians of all time. There's no better place to start than Your Show of Shows (later Caesar's Hour), the seminal live television schtickfest which launched not only Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, Howard Morris, and Nanette Fabray, but (around

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6296243924914699543.post-46833875337403848592009-05-25T20:24:00.005-04:002009-11-25T08:30:02.432-05:00

New York magazine's cover story "Twilight of the Tummlers" focuses on Woody Allen's upcoming Whatever Works (opening June 19), which has ignited sparks of excitement in people who haven't felt excited about a Woody Allen movie in a long time. New York's Mark Harris uses the casting of Larry David, and Allen's return to both New York and comedy, to make interesting points about how both have

Noah Diamondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00832657563205934276noreply@blogger.com0