Say what you want about the fandom of a big sci-fi series like ‘Star Wars’, the nerdy hoards that have made it what it is into such a success, are ripe for parody. That was never more obvious when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog of ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ fame roasted fans waiting outside for the NYC premiere of the ‘Attack of the Clones’ in 2002. It stands the test of time as one of the funniest remote comedy sketches of all time on any late night show.
Robert Smigel, the comedy writer who voices ‘Triumph’ told iO9 about the memorable sketch and why it worked to target Star Wars fans for comedy gold. “It’s still the Triumph sketch I hear the most about and I’d say it’s still the best…The simplest explanation is that it features the funniest straight men Triumph’s ever encountered. So you’re laughing not only at the jokes but the faces, the costumes and commitment. There’s so much to enjoy.” said Smigel.
Here are outtakes that didn’t make the cut of the original that aired on NBC.
It blows my mind that Brian has made it this long on Earth and still has not seen a single “Star Wars” movie. I’m trying to convince him to catch up and get in on the fun. -Lou
The reviews keep coming in for the hotly anticipated ‘STAR WARS: the Last Jedi’ and they are overall very good. The current Rotten Tomatoes score for the film from critics who have seen it prior to it’s official release on Friday stands at a very solid 93% , with the the consensus “Star Wars: The Last Jedi honors the saga’s rich legacy while adding some surprising twists — and delivering all the emotion-rich action fans could hope for.” Do not worry NO SPOILERS lays ahead in the videos below from the top Youtube reviewers below.
Check out our lookbacks at the weird, worst, and out-there parts of STAR WARS past
Praise has been given to several big twists here, elaborate action sequences, and character development under the guise of director Rian Johnson. The negatives given to ‘Last Jedi’ seem to be minimal especially considering there is so much expected from these films with this being the 8th film in the blockbuster series.
Taking place between ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ in the story order, falls this 1984 made-for-TV movie ‘Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure’ that features Ewoks, the furry forest rebels that did not win everyone’s hearts in ‘Jedi’. It’s narrated by Burl Ives (the due who sang the holiday novelty hit ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’) which is smart since SW fans had already endured Wookies making noises instead of dialogue in the awful ‘Holiday Special’, but don’t think that saves it.
This movie is a bore according to Youtube movie critic Chris Stuckman. We may get Ewoks, some familiar costumes, but there is no characters from the films. We get some nifty 80’s era effects but the story is paced weirdly due to editing for TV commercial breaks. It just does not click even with a fresh idea with new characters playing with the cartoony Ewoks. There are some gnarly action scenes like Ewoks fighting a giant spider and gets crushed by falling rocks, but that is about it.
It’s not the worst of Star Wars, no that dubious designation is still attached to the Holiday Special.
They got a sequel for some reason out of this called Ewoks;Battle for Endor in 1985. This one for some reason features the mean principal from ‘the Breakfast Club’ as a dad of the ewok kid buddies, takes a darker tone, but it can’t beat the made-for-TV-ness of it all. OH, WAIT WILFRED BRIMLEY FROM THE DIABETES COMMERCIALS?!
Portugal. The Man broke records for the longest running #1 in the history of the alternative format. NBD!!
But this week, Beck knocked them out of the top slot with his song “Up All Night,” and being the true humble gentlemen that they are had a wonderful exchange with Lord of Two Turntables and a Microphone himself on Twitter
First sending congrats…
Congrats to @beck for knocking us out of the number one spot at alternative. More than happy to move out of the way for our hero 🙏🏻
Thanks @portugaltheman – honored to join you on the chart. And congratulations to you all on your Grammy nominations and for putting out one of the best songs of the year.
And then The Lords of Portland expressed their respect and inspiration….
Everything we do can be traced back to hearing “Loser” for the first time. Thank you for the endless inspiration, the iconic style, and the ever evolving sounds. Love everything you do 👊🏻 @beckhttps://t.co/OiILrKrGdn
Walk the Moon shut up and danced on Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday night (Dec. 11) — performing the new songs “One Foot” and “Kamikaze” for Kimmel’s Mercedes-Benz Concert Series. Frontman Nicholas Petricca appeared on stage with his bleached blond mullet and white face paint (a staple of the group’s aesthetic) streaming out from the corner of his eyes. And if the face paint didn’t accentuate his eyes enough, he had eyes printed all over his knee-length cardigan. (MORE HERE)
Watch performances of “One Foot”, “Kamikaze” and a full “OFF AIR” performance including “ANNA SUN”
Former Chicago Bears great Devin Hester announced his retirement from the NFL today.
“To all the Bears fans, you brought me in and made a Florida boy feel at home in the Midwest from Day 1,” he wrote on Twtter. “I grew into a man, built a family and became who I am today in the city of Chicago. I’ll always remember the noise y’all made whenever I hit the open turf at Soldier (Field) — never heard anything quite like it. I’d also like to especially thank coach Lovie Smith for taking a chance on me in the draft and getting this whole thing started.”
CURTAINS ✌🏾 Appreciate all of the love for all these years!!! Y’all made the ride incredible!!! pic.twitter.com/jkcVrRLcNI
It turns out France will be banning students from using phones in the country’s elementary and middle schools, The Guardian reports.
The Guardian explains that students will be allowed to bring their phones to school, but will not be allowed to use phones until they leave school for the day.
“Sometimes you need a mobile for teaching reasons…for urgent situations, but their use has to be somehow controlled,” Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French education minister, explains. “It’s good that children are not too often, or even at all, in front of a screen before the age of seven.” (MORE HERE)
Disney could announce a deal this week to purchase the movie and TV studio properties of 21st Century Fox. This huge $60 billion dollar deal has been reported for weeks now, with Fox talking to several other big media companies including Comcast but today’s near-confirmation comes from CNBC. According to Variety, Fox would retain Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, and Fox Sports 1, which will be re figured into a new, independent company. Disney would seek to acquire the lost pieces of some of their owned properties to expand their work in films, merchandise, and beyond with Fox movie and TV shows.
Disney would get control over all the movie and various TV shows under the Fox umbrella that includes the X-Men which could lead to a huge addition to the D’s established ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ series.The Marvel films have generated a whopping $13 billion following the release of ‘Thor: Ragnarok, so adding more synergy creating more exciting team-ups and battles means more blockbuster box office success. We could finally see Wolverine meet the Avengers on the big screen. Deadpool could crack wise next to Iron Man.. What would Disney do with these new characters at their theme parks in Florida and California? There is a lot possibilities of fun things happening here but the recent more adult R-rated vibe of ‘Logan’ and ‘Deadpool’ on the Fox side could get pulled back under Disney. Polygon reported this week Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, confirmed with investors in a recent call that Disney, including subsidiaries like Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, would never make a hard R-movie.
So what does that mean for risque FOX TV shows like ‘Family Guy’? How does this affect the beloved ‘Simpsons’? Can ‘Bob’s Burgers’ still have burgers or do they have go vegetarian? So many questions arise, but only the future holds the answers.
A major influence for this deal is Disney planned launch of their own digital streaming service which will feature all of their movies, TV shows, and many originally produced shows. It’s a massive venture on the Mouse’s part basically making them a direct competitor with Netflix. With these new Fox shows and movies under it’s white gloved grip, it could fill out a tasty on-demand offering for this future over-the-top service.
Just remember ‘the Simpsons’ predicted this.
With the possibility of 20th Century Fox being sold to Disney, let me be one of the first to point out the Simpsons predicted it: pic.twitter.com/U1uN5VjiEp
Stranger Things star David Harbour (aka Jim Hopper) has hinted towards when we’ll see Season 3 on Netflix, and it’s a little later than we’d hope—but it only makes sense.
“I mean, one of the things that’s annoying for fans is that it takes us a long time to do them,” he tells Variety. “You probably won’t get [Season 3] until sometime in 2019. But also part of the thing is, like any good thing, they need time. And those guys work so hard. I mean, they just sit in their apartment and write for 12, 14 hours a day.”
And, of course, we want Season 3 to be the best it can be, so I guess we can patiently wait until 2019 for a new season.
Season 3 was officially confirmed earlier this month and, of course, this is no surprise whatsoever. Everyone’s ready for more, and there are already speculations about what’ll happen in Season 3. There might even be some hints from the writers and cast members… See everything we know so far here. (One thing we can expect? More ‘80s references. Heck yes.)
In the four years since the release of the Ventra card, commuters have become accustomed to tapping the drab, grey pass when taking CTA buses and trains. With the original cards nearing their expiration date (is there a single person who has managed to not misplace their first Ventra card?), the CTA is introducing a new look for the transit cards alongside a campaign educating customers about how to obtain a replacement. (MORE HERE)
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has issued a second apology to the photographer he kicked during the band’s concert in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The photographer, Chelsea Lauren, said Homme’s kick caused her camera to hit her in the face. She spent the evening in the ER and planned to file a police report on Sunday. (MORE HERE)
As we countdown to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi this week , we look back all the out-there things from the galaxy far, far away.
Yeah, as if the Star Wars Holiday Special was not weird enough but then there was the ‘Christmas in the Stars’ album. It was released in November 1980 through RSO Records with producer Meco Menardo and music composed by Broadway song-smith Maury Yeston. It is beyond odd with a kiddie feel and mad takes on various Star Wars side characters all doing some holiday themed songs that sound like songs that you would think written by comedy music titan Weird Al Yankovic, except they weren’t. Chalk it up as “so bad, it’s good”.
Here is the track list.
“Christmas in the Stars” – 3:17
“Bells, Bells, Bells” – 3:15
“The Odds Against Christmas” – 3:04
“What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)” – 3:24
“R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas” – 3:16
“Sleigh Ride” – 3:36
“Merry, Merry Christmas” – 2:09
“A Christmas Sighting (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas)” – 3:43
“The Meaning of Christmas” – 8:08
The album did well on the popularity of Star Wars at the time, but never saw a second pressing due to the RSO Records going out of business due to an unrelated lawsuit. That makes the vinyl a real collectors item for fans. It’s also worth noting this album features the first known recorded vocal performance of Jon Bon Jovi. Yes, he’s on this record performing “R2D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Yes, that’s a real song with the lyrics ” And if the snow becomes too deep, just give a little beep / We’ll go in by the fire and warm your little wires / Spreading Christmas cheer will be easy with you here.” It is a real song, and for many reasons I can not defend, it is my all-time favorite Christmas song.
Over the years around Christmas, I pull together an oddball holiday playlist of eccentric deep tracks from this album and others that I heard on the “Dr. Demento Show’ on 97.9 The Loop, This music files in that novelty category of just zany over-the-top and though it’s not necessarily great, it’s delightful in a genuine way for Star Wars fans of all ages.
It’s demented influence continued to make impact generations later. Tarquin Records, an indie rock label out of Connecticut put out this brilliant holiday compilation of non-traditional holiday songs, and it won me over when alt solo artist Brian Dewan crushed a cover from the ‘Christmas in the Star Wars’ album. It’s honestly better than the original with sound effects, keyboard blips, and soft electric organ plus a gang vocals. It’s nerdy and neat to think of someone this holiday out there drinking the egg nog in a turtle neck and giving a robot a meaningful gift.
Will Ferrell’s ‘ELF” stands the test of time as a vivid mix of over-the-top humor with a heart-warming holiday message, but the talented deviants at Mashable have flipped it on it’s head with a horror remixed trailed that gives it a whole new spooky vibe. Yeah, now Buddy does not seem so nice does he?
It’s clever how just some musical adjustments and choice cuts of dialogue work this joke into you so easily.
WGN’s Pat Tomasulo reports from the drunken weirdness that is TBOX back in 2012
TBOX, the 12 Bars of Christmas in the past few years has morphed into ugly christmas sweater bacchanal of booze, costumes, non-milk cereal consumption, and public intoxication. It went down yesterday and Twitter had a field day covering all of the madness in Wrigleyville. Here is the best (or worst?) of TBOX 2017 from across the social medias.
Yeah for those of us that don’t like that MANY drunk people in once place this is amusing.
Big s/o to everyone sincerely regretting going to #TBOX yesterday. I would totally help if I could…but I can’t. Have fun with the two day hangover and depleted bank account.
Mary is a fourteen year old girl from Cleveland. That’s not even half as mature as the Toto classic, “Africa.” But it appears as though the prospect of Weezer covering a pop hit from 1982 is something she desires greatly, no matter the motivation:
@RiversCuomo it’s about time you bless the rains down in africa
Mary joked that the new album Daydream must have been inspired by “Africa,” and somehow that evolved into the thought that maybe…just maybe…the band might be up for covering it.
She’s created a Twitter account, fired off messages towards the band, and begged and pleaded everywhere to get this done. So far, only Patrick Wilson has responded (he said it made him laugh). But really, what we need is…an official position statement from Rivers Cuomo.
It doesn’t need to be on social media. I think fans would be okay if they just ripped into the famous refrain as confirmation. — [eric]
