Details Are Sketchy - Blogs

Comedy news and views from Jeff Kreisler, with an IFC twist.

Drop him a line at sketchy (at) ifc dot com.

Video Friday - Short and Sweet

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/20/2009

Yankees Infomercial - College Humor See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. The Hotel - Atom Films The Hotel - Room ServiceAtom.com: Funny Videos | Spoofs | Hotel Extreme Degobah Tourism Video - Zilch Zone... MORE »

Comment

Introducing... Neko Neko Films

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/19/2009

Filed under: Introducing...

Youth is served! Today, we introduce a sketch group of aspiring youngsters. Don't get big heads, kids, you still have a ways to go. But you're on your way. May you stay happy and keep enjoying your work, otherwise, I'll see you at the Divorced 45 Year Old Men With Halitosis and Fading Dreams Conference soon enough (it's held every Thursday in my nightmares ). Group Name: Neko Neko Films Group Members: Derek Beck, Harrison Smith, Trevor Smith, Jono Foley, John Zamer Website: www.nekonekofilms.com Links to videos you're proud of: Future Skit Action Movie Shiny credits or awards: Accepted and... MORE »

Comment

Goings and Comings

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/17/2009

Filed under: Industry News, Up For Debate

Sad news x 2 for the comedy community: 1. Beloved Boston comic Kevin Knox passed away after a long battle with cancer. 2. Ken Ober - known to many as host of MTV's Remote Control - also moved on. A friend of many in the community, this news showed the annoying/creepy side of social networking, as rumors of both of his passing and the falsity of those rumors and the falsity of those rumors and accusations and blame and noise momentarily overshadowed the loss. Sorry to start it off on a bummer, but I don't think death is such a... MORE »

Comment

Video Friday - Whatev

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/13/2009

Filed under: Video

Where The Dirty Hipsters Are - Secret Sauce Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck Kneehigh Park - Chappelle Show Chappelle Show- Kneehigh Park - watch more funny videos... MORE »

Comment

News For The Road

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/11/2009

Filed under: Industry News, On The Tube

Ah, the life of a comedian. Last week Milwaukee, tonight the middle of Pennsylvania, a.k.a. "Alabama." Here's some good Sketchy comedy news from the last week or so. You read it, while I figure out how to take the big words out of my act... Twitter user 'Shit My Dad Says' gets CBS deal Only one day after my piece on "TV Writing for the Internet Age?" Interesting... Comedy Central is developing a channel... in Abu Dhabi This should be good. The region is developing culturally, but what are the content barriers going to be? Will the folks from the... MORE »

Comment

Panel Review - TV Writing in the Internet Age

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/10/2009

Filed under: Festivals, On The Tube, Review-ish, Up For Debate

The New York Comedy Festival event I thought had the most "Details Are Sketchy" potential was Keeping It Fresh: Television Writing In The Internet Age. Oooh, internet, writing, comedy! That's us! Held at the Paley Center for Media (if you haven't been, you should go) on Friday evening (just when I returned from hell, a.k.a. Milwaukee and Cincinnati) the panel displayed a fairly broad swath* of TV comedy - Rory Albanese (Executive Producer of The Daily Show), Jim Downey (writer for SNL [most of their political stuff]), Al Jean (Executive Producer of The Simpsons), and Peter Tolan (Co-creator and EP... MORE »

Comment

Video Friday - Travel Delayed

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/07/2009

Filed under: Video

Ugh. (Unnamed Airline) sucks. Won't bore you with details of another wayward trip through hell, but there's no way a 90 minute flight from Milwaukee to NYC should including boarding, deplaning, bad information, a trip through Cincinnati, and b.o. that is not from this Earth. So, just like me, video Friday was delayed... until now. When I find solace in watching videos about airline travel. Yes, airplane jokes are as old as airplanes themselves, but just sit back, think of all the times you've been screwed, and enjoy. How To Irritate People - Monty Python Yesterday's Future Today - Funny... MORE »

Comment

Milwaukee Ha Ha?

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/04/2009

Filed under: Around The World, Up For Debate

No, really. I am in Milwaukee for a couple days. Performing at Marquette and UW Oshkosh. I got to thinking... Besides Laverne & Shirley, most seasons of the Brewers (especially the Red Necks and Jeffrey Leonard years), and the accents, what's so funny about Milwaukee? This site gives me some comedy around. There are a couple clubs, some improv, some sketch groups... but is there anything amazing here? Who's "come out of" Milwaukee? This type of town has got to produce some under-the-radar gems, so who are they? And, furthermore, let's maybe start a little breakdown of comedy cities in... MORE »

Comment

The Times, It Is A-Laughing

By Jeff Kreisler on 11/03/2009

Filed under: Up For Debate

I tend to keep an eye on the MSM coverage of comedy. Having been exposed the UK comedy scene - where the big papers and the BBC routinely include comedy and comedians as major cultural forces - I'm curious to see what happens here. The intrusion of the Stewart-Colbert-Maher line into tradition media's role as information provider, the rise of comedy coverage and content online, the steady flow of laid off "real job" holders into the comedy ranks... all must be adding pressure to newsrooms to at least take a look into the ha-ha arts. The New York Times, for... MORE »