David Pasquesi: In the Limelight
No, it’s not Adrien Brody’s snarky older brother. It’s David Pasquesi, one of the stars of Spike TV’s first original half-hour comedy, The Factory.
Looking at Pasquesi’s IMDb page, he’s done a fair amount of TV and film work, but the majority of his experience comes from both theater and improv. He currently does shows and occasionally teaches at Chicago’s IO (Improv Olympic). Back in the day, he honed his improv chops under the tutelage of the legendary Del Close and was part of the class that developed The Harold. An improv geek’s reaction to that would be “Holy crap!” and everyone else should be thinking, “Who’s Harold?” Yeah, don’t worry about it. If this interests you though, check out this great interview he did back in ’06, all about his work in improv.
Fellow children of Second City, Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Mitch Rouse created, wrote and starred in Exit 57, to which Pasquesi contributed as a writer. This very same team went on to create Strangers with Candy. Pasquesi had a recurring role in the series as Stew the Meat Man. He was only in a few episodes, but one of my favorite scenes from the entire first season is when art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck argues with Stew at the Blank household (”Obviously you have a beef, Stew”). Pasquesi returned for the role in the 2005 feature film version of the series.
After a few roles here and there on TV and in movies, including Jeff Garlin’s I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With, Pasquesi joined Rouse’s new project for Spike TV, The Factory, playing the role of smart-ass Smitty, who lives with his ex-wife because neither of them can afford to get their own places. It’s the channel’s first original half-hour comedy and it’s totally improvised, in that Curb Your Enthusiasm sort of way. Perhaps it’s because I’m not part of Spike TV’s main demographic or I’m wary of watching material from the same place that brought us Stripperella, but I didn’t think the show was spectacular. Then again, I’ve only seen the pilot and improv’d shows often need a little time before they find their feet. I’ll probably tune in at least once more, just because I like Pasquesi.
To be quite honest, my main intention of writing this post wasn’t to promote The Factory. Surprising, I know. Really, I just wanted an excuse to share this video that Pasquesi did a few years ago. It’s called “Hobbies” and it’s a short film from a series about regrets. He plays angry and bitter disturbingly well, and his improv skills are super-impressive. Plus, I don’t know if some of you more avid readers have been able to tell, but I’m a fan of self-loathing out loud. Check it out (language NSFW):
The Factory officially premieres June 29th, but the first episode is available for streaming on the website. Watch it if you’re a guy and you’re into this sort of thing.
Short-Lived Shows: Day By Day - VIDEO
This must be Short-Lived Sitcom week. Yesterday I told you about Married People, and today it’s Day By Day.
This was a short-lived show on NBC (ran for 33 episodes in 1988-89). It was about Brian and Kate Harper, a professional couple (Doug Sheehan from Knot’s Landing played stockbroker Brian, and Linda Kelsey from Lou Grant played lawyer Kate) who decided to open an in-home day care center. Their teen son Ross was played by C.B. Barnes, who played Greg in the Brady Bunch movies and starred in the Starman TV series and Malcolm and Eddie.
But I’d like to talk to you about the two other females in the cast. Two that went on to much bigger things later in their careers.
Courtney Thorne-Smith, who can currently be seen in According To Jim, played the Harpers’ assistant Kristin. She always teased Ross, who was always trying to get into her pants woo her romantically. I developed an incredible crush on Ms. Thorne-Smith when this show debuted. A crush that has matched since only by the likes of Amy Sedaris and Tina Fey.
And who played Eileen Swift, the Harpers’ driven, sarcastic, career-oriented friend who didn’t do too well with kids? Julia Louis-Dreyfus! This was a couple of years before the Seinfeld pilot was shot. You can see bits of Elaine in the Eileen character (wow, just noticed how similar the names are).
This was truly a funny, pleasant show, well-written and well done all around. I didn’t realize that the show was created by Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties, Brooklyn Bridge, many other shows) and Andy Borowitz, who used to write for The Facts of Life and now is a New Yorker writer and TV commentator. He was also in a humor group I used to belong to way back in the dark ages of the web. I had no idea he co-created this.
This is, unfortunately, one of those shows that will probably be lost to time. It will probably not be released on DVD (despite the later successes of Louis-Dreyfus and Thorne-Smith), and you can’t even find it on AOL Video or Hulu.
Below is the opening for the show (thank God for YouTubers who put this stuff online). Notice how Elaine-esque Julia Louis-Dreyfus is. WARNING: IF YOU LISTEN TO THE THEME SONG YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF INEXPLICABLY SINGING IT LATER TODAY, PERHAPS WHEN YOU’RE MAKING DINNER OR DOING LAUNDRY. CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Fine ladies of comedy in Vanity Fair
Jenna Fischer: This is one of those “I’ve arrived!” moments. Seriously. There’s, like, little milestones… Like, being on David Letterman for the first time and then, like, being in Vanity Fair.
Chelsea Handler: … I knew I arrived when I got my period.
Everyone: [groans and laughter]
Yeah, I know how most of our male readers are. They like their ladies funny, smart, and painfully out of their league. Well, start lurking around the magazine stands, boys, because the upcoming Vanity Fair has a new Annie Leibovitz photo spread featuring some of the funniest ladies on the scene. The impressive list boasts Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, each of them doing very typical “Hollywood bad girl” things. I especially love Maya Rudolph’s hair and how Silverman manages to do Amy Winehouse better than Amy Winehouse.
Everybody looks fantastic, all glammed up. It’s interesting to think that a lot of these lovely comediennes came from backgrounds where they were made fun of for being goofy or dorky. I suggest you all start paying a little more attention to that frumpy girl in your Summer improv intensive. For more, check out this VanityFair.com behind-the-scenes video from the photo shoot. Sexy ladies cracking jokes! You know you love it.
By the way, I demand one of these for the men. A little bit of Steve Carell, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Mulaney, Simon Pegg, the Flight of the Conchords boys… I could go on, but you work it out with Leibovitz, Vanity Fair.
Weirdest kid show appearances
Someone out there has taken the time to compose a list of the weirdest celebrities to appear on a kid’s show. The guests include Amy Sedaris, Quentin Tarantino, Larry David and George Carlin.
The common theme of the list is that actors who usually appear in adult shows or using adult humor are appearing on children’s television where it is unlikely they will be recognized by the average viewer. Frankly, I doubt most kids recognize most celebrities when presented in front of them no matter what they’ve appeared in unless it’s on The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon.
I think the point of appearing on these shows is greater visibility for the actor. That way, the kids might recognize them when they’re older and discover comic gold like Strangers With Candy or Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Most of the instances in the list have the actors playing characters anyway. My guess is that their appearance on these shows is more for the benefit of any parent who might be watching alongside their kids. The parents can see these “notorious” celebrities on a kid’s show and laugh at the irony.
[via Digg]