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R. Rated
''R. Rated'' was a late 90s American comedy variety TV show executive produced and hosted by comic R. O'Donnell. It aired on Fridays at midnight on WFLD Fox 32, Chicago, and featured sketch comedy troupes, theater companies, musicians, stand-up comics and other independent film and video makers. History In 1996 through 1998, stand-up comic R. O'Donnell hosted the Fox Diner (WFLD–Channel 32) at Taste of Chicago, which was an entertainment venue promoting the Fox network with live talent interviews, giveaways and bands. In 1998, O'Donnell pitched his comedy/variety show concept to vice president and general manager Stacey Marks-Bronner. She greenlit a midnight time-slot on the station. Production ''R. Rated'' was created, executive produced and hosted by O'Donnell, who, as a comic, was billed simply as "R." (hence the title of the show). Vicki Potts served as producer and Edward Seaton served as director and editor. It premiered Friday, August 13, 1999, at midnight on WFLD Fox 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard O'Donnell (playwright)
Richard O'Donnell (born June 17, 1956) is an American playwright, composer, lyricist, poet, actor, and stand-up comic. He has worked and lived in New York City and Chicago, where he has written and performed for the stage and television. O'Donnell co-wrote the ASCAP award-winning Off-Broadway musical comedy '' One & One'', and Radio City Music Hall's ''Manhattan Showboat''. He founded the New Age Vaudeville theatre company, the New Variety cabaret, the Black Pearl Cabaret, and St. John's Conservatory Theater. As a stand-up comic, he was the executive producer and host of the Fox, Chicago comedy variety television show '' R. Rated''. Early life and education Richard O'Donnell began in the entertainment industry as a professional ventriloquist. While in Jr. high school, he ran away with the Sells & Gray 3-ring tent circus at the age of 15, sleeping in the back of a truck that transported their elephants, Bessie and Anna May. O'Donnell was eventually forced to return home to fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mick Napier
Mick Napier (born December 12, 1962) is an American director and improvisational theater teacher. He is the founder and artistic director of the Annoyance Theatre and a director at The Second City. He has directed Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Horatio Sanz, Nia Vardalos, Andy Richter, Jeff Garlin, and David Sedaris. Career Napier directed the Comedy Central Cable Ace nominated show ''Exit 57'' and the Troma film ''Fatty Drives the Bus'' which also featured notable Chicago improvisers and actors still living and working there today, including Susan Messing, Joe Bill and Mark Sutton. In 2008, Fatty Drives the Bus landed on several cult top ten lists such as Liberal Dead which wrote, "...a weird cross of 70’s era exploitation and comedy rolled up in a nice little blasphemy laced package." He founded The Annoyance with the philosophy that training improvisers to be individually powerful is the best way to support those with whom one improvises, an answer to the Yes, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annoyance Theater
The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successful stage and screen actors. Popular productions have included '' Co-Ed Prison Sluts'' and ''That Darned Antichrist''. Annoyance Productions currently runs classes in improvisation, writing, musical improvisation, acting, and solo work. History The Annoyance Theatre was founded by Mick Napier as "Metraform" in 1987 and changed its name to the Annoyance after moving into a new building in 1989. The Annoyance moved again in 1994 to a theater on the 3700 block of North Clark Street, where it would remain for six years. In 2000 the Annoyance was forced to move out so the building could be demolished to make room for a temporary parking lot for nearby Wrigley Field, which was later the site of a mixed commercial/residential building containing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ernie Kovacs Show
''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' was an American comedy show hosted by comedian Ernie Kovacs, first shown in Philadelphia during the early 1950s, then nationally. The show appeared in many versions and formats, including daytime, prime-time, late-night, talk show, comedy, and as a summer replacement series. ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' was one of only six TV shows broadcast on all four U.S. television networks during the Golden Age of Television, the others being ''The Original Amateur Hour'', ''Pantomime Quiz'', ''Down You Go'', ''The Arthur Murray Party'', and ''Tom Corbett, Space Cadet''. CBS From April 21, 1952, to January 15, 1954, Kovacs had a daytime show under the name ''Kovacs Unlimited'' airing Monday through Friday at 8:30 am ET on CBS Television. From December 30, 1952, to April 14, 1953, CBS aired the one-hour ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' on Tuesday evenings at 8pm ET. DuMont From April 12, 1954, to April 7, 1955, he also had a late night television talk show on the DuMont Telev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Her breakthrough role was on the NBC television show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''); she was a cast member from 1999 to 2006 portraying a variety of roles including Debbie Downer. She has since occasionally returned to ''SNL'' as a guest portraying Senator Amy Klobuchar. Other television credits include ''The King of Queens'', ''Monk'', and ''30 Rock''. She has also played the recurring role of Wanda Jo Oliver on '' Last Week Tonight with John Oliver''. She acted in films including '' Click'' (2006), ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' (2007), ''Sisters'' (2015), and ''Wine Country'' (2019). In 2022, Dratch made her Broadway stage debut in '' POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive'' for which she earned a Ton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Second City
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City. The Second City has produced television programs in both Canada and the United States, including '' SCTV'', ''Second City Presents'', and '' Next Comedy Legend''. Since its debut, The Second City has consistently been a starting point for many comedians, award-winning actors, directors, and others in show business, including Del Close, Alan Alda, Alan Arkin, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Candy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Colin M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephnie Weir
Stephnie Carmel Weir (born November 28, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for being a main cast member and writer on the Fox sketch comedy television series ''Mad TV'' from 2000 to 2005, for which she got two Writers Guild of America Award nominations. She had starring roles on several short-lived television sitcoms, including ''Big Day'' (2006–2007), '' The Comedians'' (2015), and '' Happy Together'' (2018–2019), and starred in the 2017 comedy film '' Room for Rent''. Career Weir was a consulting producer for the comedy series ''Raising Hope''. She also appeared in Disney's '' Godmothered''. ''Counter Culture'' ''Counter Culture'' is a comedy series created by Weir that was in development for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The pilot follows three aging sisters running their family diner together in West Texas. ABC ordered the pilot on January 30, 2012. The ensemble cast includes Kerri Kenney-Silver, Delta Burke and Emmy Award win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MADtv
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the series, one more eight-episode season was produced and broadcast on The CW in 2016. Development William Gaines, who owned EC Comics and published the American humor magazine '' Mad'' from 1950 until his death in 1992, refused to sell the rights to the magazine as he despised television. In 1995, following Gaines's death three years prior, EC Comics sold the rights to ''Mad'' to Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment (QDE), which was owned by record producer Quincy Jones and television producer David Salzman. Fax Bahr and Adam Small began working as staff writers on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'' in 1992 after David Alan Grier informed Bahr that showrunner Keenen Ivory Wayans had fired the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Kazurinsky
Timothy James Kazurinsky (born March 3, 1950) is an American actor and screenwriter best known as a cast member and writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the ''Police Academy'' films. Early life Kazurinsky was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His father, who was American-born, was of Polish descent, and his mother was an Australian war bride. He spent most of his childhood in Australia, where he attended Birrong Boys High School. When he was 16, he moved to America by himself. He completed his education, graduating from Greater Johnstown High School in 1967. Kazurinsky worked as a reporter for the '' Johnstown Tribune-Democrat'', then as a copywriter for a St. Louis, Missouri, department store. He moved to Chicago and began working for Leo Burnett Worldwide in its advertising department. Seeking to gain confidence presenting ad pitches, Kazurinsky enrolled in an improv class at The Second City, where he became a member of the mainstage troupe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to broadcast their season's nightly programming. The term ''prime time'' is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example (in the United States), from 8:00p.m. to 11:00p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) or 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. (Central and Mountain Time). In India and some Middle Eastern countries, prime time consists of the programmes that are aired on TV between 8:00p.m. and 10:00p.m. local time. Asia Bangladesh In Bangladesh, the 19:00-to-22:00 time slot is known as Prime Time. Several national broadcasters like Maasranga Television, Gazi TV, Channel 9, Channel i broadcast their prime-time shows from 20:00 to 23:00 after their Primetime news at 19:00. During Islamic Holidays Season, most of the TV Stations broadcast their esp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annoyance Theatre
The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successful stage and screen actors. Popular productions have included '' Co-Ed Prison Sluts'' and ''That Darned Antichrist''. Annoyance Productions currently runs classes in improvisation, writing, musical improvisation, acting, and solo work. History The Annoyance Theatre was founded by Mick Napier as "Metraform" in 1987 and changed its name to the Annoyance after moving into a new building in 1989. The Annoyance moved again in 1994 to a theater on the 3700 block of North Clark Street, where it would remain for six years. In 2000 the Annoyance was forced to move out so the building could be demolished to make room for a temporary parking lot for nearby Wrigley Field, which was later the site of a mixed commercial/residential building containing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
