Good morning,
Yesterday, I took in an Impressionism exhibit. Was it for toddlers? Yes, but it still counts. The exhibit featured, amongst the Fisher-Price gardening playsets, plaques of various Impressionist big shots with their headshots and defining quotes. Vincent Vincet Willem Van Gogh’s (maybe you’ve heard of him??) said, “The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.” OMG, emo much!? If this dude were alive today, he’d be wearing black nail polish and combing his hair to the front. The body copy said, within the first two sentences, “He is graded as the perfect example of a tormented artist. His late artistic vocation was the result of a search for an activity that would provide his existence with meaning.” This is in a children’s museum, guys. Hilarious. Being the perfect example of a tormented artist myself, it also made me think about comedy. So…
It’s the last week of August, which means:
The summer has once again slipped through our fingers like grains of sand on Flying Point beach — or at least like it would have if you’d been able to find parking.
SNL is so freaking close to announcing its new hires, and until they do, there is still a chance it’s you.
SCTV is coming to Netflix. I forgot they gave us Rick Moranis!
Vulture’s Jason P. Frank did a fun interview with Cat Cohen about her new solo show.
Voting has officially closed for the SXSW Panel Picker. If you voted for the Free Puppies panel, thank you!! It’s in God’s hands now.
Now, let’s begin.
I’m including this because the success lever was when they replied, “Close enough! Welcome back, Treblemakers!” on a Pitch Perfect video, which is a comedy! That comment got over 300,000 likes, and since then, they’ve been boppin’ in all over the place. Of their 200-350 comments a month, and most get over 10,000 likes. Great. Point being, brands are considering the comment section an extension of their social strategy now (see: here, here, and Vogue’s take, here). As someone who toiled worked in social media creative for years, I think this is a good thing because they will need writers to write all these 350+ additional pieces of content. And, aside from the stray meme or two, most of these are copy (words) only, which is way easier to produce and get approved by the agency or in-house overlords. Do I think brands should be in the comments section? <pinches bridge of nose and sighs> ask me in 4 cups of coffee.
Buckle up for “A Work of Cuisinart: The Starving Artist” — puns run riot! The series launched in all its both horizontal and vertical glory August 13, and follows “Lucy, a modern home cook, and Bruno, a baroque-period artist who has time-traveled into her kitchen, bickering their way through six products, including ClearView Air Fryer and the FastFreeze Ice Cream Maker.” It’s on TikTok, Reels, and YouTube both longs and Shorts, and comes to us from creative-led shop, Fallon. As someone actively developing social shows for clients, this is interesting. Two weeks on YT, and only 163 views is not great! No shade to Fallon, but this doesn’t read to me as a social-first show, so much as a TV spot they put on social. IMO, that’s the difference, and consumers care.
Her campaign is for JCPenny, but all the school-clothes-rush brands are hitting up comics for their marketing (see: here). Comedy for commerce in action, and we love to see it as much as we hate to see back-to-school ads because a socially-awkward 11-year-old still lives in all of us and isn’t ready to pull out the 5-Star binders again yet.
Mariska Hargitay must really be bored of playing the same character for 400 years, because she just finished starring in Broadway’s Every Brilliant Thing, and now is taking the mic for traditional TV’s tradionally biggest night. The awards air Monday (Monday?) Sept 14th, at 8PM on NBC and Peacock, which I will not forget because it’s also my little brother’s birthday.
It’s called “He’ll Yeah,” and is streaming on 800 Pound Gorilla’s streaming service next week and YouTube September 22nd. It’s several performances cut together, and from the looks of the trailer, includes a healthy dose of docu-vibes too.
Produced by Josh Safdie and running 102 minutes long, Magnolia Pictures is betting that we will go outside to a theatre to see it on September 18th. We might!
You’ve reached the end. Thank you for reading the weekly comedy briefing. Each week, I write this mostly free newsletter and a curated list of open part-time gigs and full-time jobs for comedy people for paid subscribers. I am not responsible for any of those jobs that turn out to be whack.
This newsletter is part of Free Puppies Creative, a company I founded and run that helps brands make money being funny.
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