Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content that was an "alternative" to the mainstream stand-up of the day which took place in working men's clubs, and was characterised by unoriginal gags often containing elements of sexism and racism. In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt has defined it as "comedy where the audience has no pre-set expectations about the crowd, and vice versa. In comedy clubs, there tends to be a certain vibe—alternative comedy explores different types of material."
Maura Therese Tierney is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on the sitcom NewsRadio (1995–1999), Abby Lockhart on the medical drama ER (1999–2009), and Helen Solloway on the mystery drama The Affair (2014–2019), the last of which won her a Golden Globe Award.
Luna Lounge was a bar and music club located at 171 Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Opened in 1995 by Dianne Galliano and Robert Sacher, it was a popular venue for local bands and stand-up comics. Luna Lounge is notable as the place where Elliott Smith wrote the songs for his first major label release, XO.
Patton Peter Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013–2023) as adult Adam F. Goldberg. After making his acting debut in the Seinfeld episode "The Couch", he has appeared in a variety of television series, such as Parks and Recreation, Community, Two and a Half Men, Drunk History, Reno 911!, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Archer, Veep, Justified, Kim Possible, Modern Family, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and We Bare Bears. He portrayed Principal Ralph Durbin in A.P. Bio (2018–2021) and Matthew the Raven in the TV series The Sandman (2022–present).
Robert A. Riggle Jr. is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and retired United States Marine officer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, he joined the Marines in 1990 and later attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Shorties Watchin' Shorties is an American adult animated comedy television series that aired on Comedy Central from April 28 to December 16, 2004. The show is made up of various short animated clips with audio from comedians' stand up routines. It also features two "shorties," a pair of babies voiced by Nick DiPaolo and Patrice O'Neal who watch and comment upon the routines on TV. For many of the episodes, the babies only stayed in the house, but in later episodes, they were shown walking around the city.
The Razzie Award for Worst Actor is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actor of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film(s) for which they were nominated.
Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O'Neal was an American comedian and actor. He was known for his stand-up comedy career and his regular guest appearances on the talk show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and the radio show Opie and Anthony.
The Dixie Melody Boys were an American Southern Gospel quartet from Kinston, North Carolina formed in 1961 and retired in 2023. The group was known for giving many young Southern Gospel and Christian artists their start in the gospel music industry and their innovation in the Christian music field.
Joel Moss Levinson is a writer and comedian from Yellow Springs, Ohio. He often collaborates with his older brother, Stephen Levinson, as the Levinson Brothers.
The Hoodlum is a 1951 American film noir crime film starring Lawrence Tierney, Allene Roberts, and Marjorie Riordan, and introducing Edward Tierney. It was directed by Max Nosseck.
The Bentzen Ball is a comedy festival held in Washington, D.C., first in 2009, and then in 2013. It is produced by the D.C.-based online magazine and event company Brightest Young Things and curated by Tig Notaro.
The Comedy Awards was an annual award ceremony run by the American television network Comedy Central, honoring the best of comedy. It was held twice, in 2011 and 2012. The 2011 ceremony took place on March 26 and aired on April 10 on CMT, Comedy Central, Logo TV, Nick at Nite, Spike, TV Land and VH1. It debuted on The Comedy Channel in Australia on May 22, 2011.
Young Adult is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody, and starring Charlize Theron. Reitman and Cody worked together previously on Juno (2007). Young Adult began a limited release on December 9, 2011, before expanding to a wide release on December 16, 2011. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and Theron earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
The 15th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2011, were given on December 14, 2011.
Edward David Pepitone is an American character actor, stand-up comedian and podcast host. He is known for his dark comedy style.
Maron is an American sitcom created by and starring Marc Maron as a fictionalized version of himself. The series premiered on the American cable television network IFC on May 3, 2013. Maron, Denis Leary, Jim Serpico, Olivia Wingate, Sivert Glarum, Michael Jamin and Duncan Birmingham served as the show's executive producers. Glarum and Jamin were the showrunners. Maron's second season premiered on May 8, 2014, and its thirteen-episode third season premiered on May 14, 2015. In November 2015, the series was renewed for a thirteen-episode fourth season. In 2016 the show was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Comedy. On July 11, 2016, Maron announced on his WTF podcast that the series would not have a fifth season, with the season four finale serving as the series finale. The series finale aired on July 13, 2016.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Burunov is a Russian actor.
"Hole in the Wall" is the first episode of the fourth season of the American Neo-Western television series Justified. It is the 40th overall episode of the series and was written by series developer Graham Yost and directed by executive producer Michael Dinner. It originally aired on FX on January 8, 2013.
