Hot Dark Knight Clips: Chicago Love & Clown Heads
Turns out that Chicago is Batman’s kind of town, after all. The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan offers a surprisingly pleasant tour of why the Second City made such a great Gotham, in one of three exclusive videos posted today on our sister site Comcast.net.
Oh, and if you need freaky clown masks for your posse’s next big heist, dig another handy (and seen-nowhere-else) clip on how the The Joker’s henchmen got their mugs.
Ten Colbert clips you probably haven’t seen
Hardcore Stephen Colbert fans might take one look at this list and scoff. To them I say, “Hey, girls who live on the Colboards, chill out.” This list is meant for the casual fan of The Colbert Report, who loves the show and, at most, knows Colbert’s history through The Daily Show and maybe a little Strangers with Candy.
As someone who has been a fan of Colbert for about eight years, I’m here to educate, here to spread the good Word. It is the duty of a good fan — especially one with too much time on her hands — to change the minds of people that see Colbert just as the TV blowhard who happens to share his name.
Actually, because of this, I got into a small argument with a guard at DC’s National Portrait Gallery when I visited Colbert’s portrait. The guard told me that he didn’t see the appeal of super-annoying Colbert and couldn’t understand why his wife was so obsessed with the man. I tried to explain the awesomeness of his work and career, but didn’t have the time or my Colbert-ism conversion materials to make it work. I think I ended with something very hippie-esque, like, “Hey, man. Just give Colbert a chance. He’s good. He’s real good.” And then the guard made fun of the Batman pin on my jacket and I had to leave.
As some of you know, Stephen used to train in Chicago’s Second City, honing his improv chops for the big time. Another former student recently came across these old tapes in his garage and uploaded them on YouTube. They are a variety of sketches written and performed by Stephen and some other recognizable comedy faces. If you watch closely in this sketch, you can see the beginnings of the trademark Colbert eyebrow.
During his time at Second City, Colbert worked as an understudy for some guy named Steve Carell. In fact, they worked together quite a bit before being co-correspondents on The Daily Show. Not only did they do improv training about the same time, but they worked on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, where – fun fact – Robert Smigel’s Ambiguously Gay Duo premiered, with Colbert and Carell voicing Ace and Gary. This is one of my favorite Colbert/Carell sketches from that time, mainly because they do fake-nausea very, very well. It’s called “Waiters Who Are Nauseated By Food”.
Man, Colbert and Paul Dinello sure like to write… interesting… material for each other. I don’t think I have to say what that implies, as I can just let these clips (and their roles as Strangers with Candy lovers Chuck Noblet and Geoffrey Jellineck) do the talking. These videos come from the pair’s first Comedy Central project, a sketch show called Exit 57, which also co-starred Candy co-creators Amy Sedaris and Mitch Rouse and some other lady that seems to have faded into obscurity. The first video may not seem that Colbert/Dinello slash-tastic, but the second one involves a lot of mouth-to-mouth action. When I have company over to watch a movie and we’re waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I just loop this video on the projector until everyone arrives or someone yells at me. It’s usually the latter.
Actually, the end part of these compilation of Exit 57 promos is, umm, pretty extreme too:
The foursome that would go on to produce Strangers with Candy also collaborated on this short film from 1994. This film is called “The Tree Surgeon”, directed by Dinello’s brother Dan and starring Colbert as… a tree surgeon. Despite the fact that it’s taped with a shaky camera and there’s occasional giggling in the background, the video is pretty funny to watch. Sedaris’ “attractive” make-up alone is well worth it.
Colbert’s work on Comedy Central continued with his contributions to The Daily Show. Back when he was still a correspondent, he made one appearance on ABC’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? There was a lot of touching involved, especially when it came to working with Wayne Brady. The performances were okay, but it’s still interesting to watch Colbert do improv and fake-ski.
And here’s one that’s probably a little more familiar to you folks. It’s one of the first appearances of The Colbert Report. It originally started off as a gag on The Daily Show, with no intention of becoming a full-fledged program. I kind of miss the aggressiveness of some of it (”It’s French, bitch!”), but I’m glad the show has retained its smarminess.
And this commercial is from Colbert’s stint with GM Goodwrench from a few years back, which yielded some promotional cardboard cut-outs of him. I’m sure there’s at least one person out there who sleeps next to it every night. That’s what I like to convince myself, anyway, as it makes me feel better when I know there’s someone weirder than me out there.
Okay, so that’s ten. I hope you all have learned something (apart from “Wow, Annie’s creepy”). To wrap up, here’s a bonus eleventh clip. This is a fan video of Mr. Colbert showing off his best moves through various points in his career. After being on a show that closed episodes with weird numbers, almost winning a dance-off against a Korean pop star, and inexplicably strutting his stuff behind unsuspecting senators, Colbert has certainly done enough to warrant a couple of fan videos completely devoted to his dancing. Plus, this one has Scissor Sisters music. Enjoy.
Bonnie Hunt Biography
Described by Entertainment Weekly as “the hands-down best (talk show) guest in America,” Chicago-born Bonnie Hunt began pursuing her acting career while working as a nurse at that city’s Northwestern University Hospital. (Reportedly as late as the early 1990s, she returned to that profession for a month or so each year.) The smart, pixie-like writer-performer co-founded the Chicago improvisational troupe An Impulsive Thing before joining the famed Second City improv group, appearing in their productions “Bright Lights, Night Baseball,” “Jean Paul Sartre and Ringo” and “How Green Were My Values.†After making her feature debut as the waitress who spills toothpicks before a calculating Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson’s Oscar-winning Best Picture “Rain Man” (1988), she moved to Los Angeles with a short-lived West Coast offshoot of Second City and turned down three offers from “Saturday Night Live” while working to get her own show on the air.
Hunt’s first leading role cast her as second fiddle to both Charles Grodin and the galumphing Saint Bernard “Beethoven” (1992), with whom she reunited for “Beethoven’s 2nd” (1993). She also had a memorable 30-second cameo as a fanatical tour guide in “Dave” (also 1993) but had less luck as Marisa Tomei’s best pal in the uneven “Only You” (1994), despite savoring the three-month shoot in Italy. Though critics were indifferent to her portrayal of Robin Williams’ love interest in “Jumanji” (1995), her years at Second City had prepared her well for the Williams whirlwind, and the film earned over $100 million at the box office. No such fate awaited the reception of “Getting Away With Murder” (1996), an embarrassment for Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Dan Aykroyd, from which Hunt emerged relatively unscathed as Aykroyd’s cast off girlfriend. After a small role in the coming-of-age drama “Now and Then” (1995), she impressed reviewers as the bitter older sister of Renee Zellweger in Cameron Crowe’s romantic/sports comedy “Jerry Maguire” (1996).
As for TV, she made her debut as a regular on the short-lived, soap-like sitcom “Grand” (CBS, 1990), followed by a stint on the elementary school sitcom “Davis Rules” (ABC, 1991; CBS, 1992), co-starring with Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters and displaying her considerable comic talents, which included holding her own opposite the exuberant Winters. Her friendship with talk show host David Letterman led to her becoming the first woman to create, write, co-executive produce (with Letterman) and star in her own short-lived series, “The Building” (CBS, 1993). The ensemble comedy featuring Hunt’s Second City colleagues attempted to recreate the feel of an improvisational troupe with its rich characterizations and overlapping dialogue. Again with Letterman’s backing, she created and produced the “The Bonnie Hunt Show/Bonnie” (CBS, 1995-1996), on which she played a Chicago TV station reporter. Taped in real time without retakes, each episode combined scripted and improvisational material, including a “man-in-the-street” report by Hunt, but in spite of sterling reviews and a small but loyal following, the show died after one season.
Though there were no more stabs at series TV, Hunt remained busy with a starring turn as a woman trapped overnight in a locked subway exit in the “Fern’s Heart of Darkness” segment of HBO’s “Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground” (1997) and small roles in “Kissing a Fool” (1998) and Sydney Pollack’s anachronistic “Random Hearts” (1999), in which she played an old friend of Kristin Scott Thomas. She also voiced the character of Rosie the black widow spider in the delightful, animated adventure comedy “A Bug’s Life” (also 1998) and played Tom Hanks’ plain-speaking, ever-warm wife in “The Green Mile” (also 1999). Hunt signed to direct her first feature, “Convenience”, in 1997, but with it on hold, she made her directorial debut at the helm of “Return to Me” (2000), co-scripted by longtime collaborator Don Lake, a regular on both her TV series. Shot almost entirely in her hometown of Chicago, the romance starred David Duchovny as a man who falls in love with Minnie Driver, the recipient of his deceased wife’s transplanted heart.
In 2002, Hunt got the chance to become the hands-down best TV talk show host—fictionally, anyway—playing local Chicago morning show personality Bonnie Molloy, who finds it hard to separate her professional and personal lives in the ABC television sit-com “Life With Bonnie” (2002-2004). The show—with scripts that were largely improvised and benefited from guest spots by many of Hunt’s showbiz colleagues such as Duchovny—was not on the air long before Hunt took near-total control, removing many of the writers and handling many of the production details herself. With Hunt at the helm, the show was renewed for an even more successful second season as part of ABC’s “TGiF” lineup, and the actress received Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy in both 2003 and 2004. She also continued her successful career in film, teaming with Steve Martin as the parents of a dozen demanding kids in the mild but commercially successful remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen” (2003).
She next starred in a little known indie feature, “Loggerheads†(2005), a family drama about a mother (Hunt) who makes a last ditch effort to find the son (Kip Pardue) she was forced to give up for adoption as a teenager. Hunt then reprised her role as the overburdened mother in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2†(2005), costarring Steven Martin as the patriarch of a family of twelve. Meanwhile, she crossed over to animation, providing the voice of Sally in “Cars†(2006), the latest soon-to-be animated classic from Pixar Studios about a hotshot race car (Owen Wilson) stuck in a sleepy Route 66 town populated by an eccentric array of characters who help steer him right.
- Born:
on 09/22/1964 in Chicago, Illinois - Job Titles:
Actor, Producer, Screenwriter, Director, Nurse
Family
- Brother: Keving Hunt. older
- Brother: Patrick Hunt. older
- Brother: Tom Hunt. older; played small roles in “Bonnie” and “The Building”
- Father: Bob Hunt. died while Bonnie was in nursing school
- Mother: Alice Hunt. provided a voiceover as Mom for CBS sitcom “Bonnie” (1995)
- Sister: Carol Hunt. older; played small roles in “Bonnie”
- Sister: Kathy Hunt. older
- Sister: Mary Hunt. younger
Significant Others
- Husband: John Murphy. married in 1988
Education
- Second City, Chicago, Illinois
Milestones
- 1982 Worked as an oncology and emergency room nurse at Northwestern University Hospital (dates approximate)
- 1984 Co-founded Chicago improvisational group, An Impulsive Thing, centered at Bob’s Bar across from Wrigley Field (date approximate)
- 1986 Joined Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe
- 1988 Feature acting debut, “Rain Man”; first onscreen collaboration with Tom Cruise; still working as a nurse, she took three days off to film her cameo
- 1989 Helped form the L.A. offshoot of Second City
- 1990 TV series debut, co-starring in the NBC sitcom “Grand”
- 1992 First feature in a lead role as Charles Grodin’s beleaguered wife in “Beethoven”
- 1993 Created, wrote and co-executive produced (with David Letterman) the TV sitcom “The Building”; despite great critical response, ratings were not stellar; CBS ofered to renew the series if Hunt replaced all of her co-stars (Chicago friends) with more well-known actors; when she refused, the axe fell
- 1993 Enjoyed hilariously memorable cameo as White House tour guide in “Dave”
- 1994 Portrayed Marisa Tomei’s best friend in Norman Jewison’s “Only You”
- 1995 Was Robin Williams’ love interest in “Jumanji”
- 1995 Wrote, created and co-executive produced (again with Letterman) the TV sitcom “The Bonnie Hunt Show/Bonnie” (CBS)
- 1996 Reteamed onscreen with Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire”
- 1997 Signed to direct first feature, “Convenience”; project eventually put on hold
- 1997 Starred as Fern McDermott, a woman who becomes trapped in a subway exit overnight, in “Fern’s Heart of Darkness”, a segment of HBO’s “Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground”
- 1998 Contributed voice of Rosie (the black widow spider) to animated “A Bug’s Life”
- 1999 Cast as Kristen Scott Thomas’ old friend in Sydney Pollack’s “Random Hearts”
- 1999 Played Tom Hanks’ plain-speaking wife in “The Green Mile”
- 2000 Feature directing and co-screenwriting (with longtime collaborator Don Lake) debut with “Return to Me”
- 2002 Starred in the comedy series “Life With Bonnie”; received Golden Globe (2002, 2003) and Emmy (2004) nominations for Best Actress
- 2002 Acted in the “Project Greenlight” winning feature “Stolen Summer”; screened at Sundance
- 2003 Co-starred with Steve Martin in the comedy “Cheaper by the Dozen”
- 2005 Reprised role as the matriarch of 12 kids in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2″
- 2006 Voiced Sally in the Pixar animated feature “Cars”
- Co-starred in the sitcom “Davis Rules” (ABC then CBS), portraying Jonathan Winters’ daughter
- Had a part-time job as nurse’s aide during high school
Tina Fey Biography
Second City veteran Tina Fey became the first female head writer in the history of “Saturday Night Live” in 1999, only two years after joining the staff of the famed NBC sketch comedy series. As one of the minds behind such hit recurring bits as the merciless satire of “The View” and the Boston videocamera-toting teen parody “Sully and Denise” (starring Jimmy Fallon and Fey’s frequent comedy collaborator and fellow Second City alum Rachel Dratch), Fey set herself apart as one of “SNL”’s more consistent and contemporary writers.
A pretty, petite brown-haired performer with a sharp wit and feisty demeanor, the fashionably bespectacled Fey quickly won over fans when she went in front of the camera, joining Jimmy Fallon behind the “Weekend Update” anchor desk beginning in the 2000-2001 season. Her assured and skillful delivery of the news was appreciated by fans, while her mixture of sparkle and sophistication balanced out Fallon’s boyish energy. Editorial comments like her passionate and honestly funny rant against Hugh Hefner’s harem were a welcome addition to the show, offering a fresh perspective on a series and in a genre known for being overwhelmingly male dominated.
A University of Virginia graduate who majored in drama and hailed from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Fey joined Chicago’s Second City and quickly developed a comedic partnership with troupe member Rachel Dratch. The pair’s show “Dratch & Fey” garnered rave reviews in its 1999 debut at Second City and its 2000 run at New York’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater while the two were also enjoying success on “Saturday Night Live”.
As her “SNL” career flourished, Fey also broke out into films with an assist from producer Lorne Michael: not only did she pen the screenplay for “Mean Girls” (2004), a funny if somewhat familiar exploration of in-fighting amid a clique of supposedly popular high school girls, she also had a role as one of the teachers.
- Born:
on 05/18/1970 in Pennsylvania - Job Titles:
Comedian, Comedy writer, Actor
Family
- Brother: Peter Fey. born c. 1962
- Father: Donald Fey.
- Mother: Jeanne Fey.
Significant Others
- Husband: Jeff Richmond. married in 2001
Education
- Upper Darby High School, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, 1988
- University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, drama, BA, 1992
- Second City Training Center, Chicago, Illinois
Milestones
- 1997 Interviewed for position as a staff writer at “Saturday Night Live” (NBC); hired by Lorne Michaels
- 1999 Elevated to position of head writer at “SNL” — the first female to ever hold the post
- 1999 Was head writer of “Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary”
- 1999 With “SNL” player Rachel Dratch, performed in Chicago in the sketch comedy “Dratch & Fey”
- 2000 Appeared on camera as co-host (with Jimmy Fallon) of the “Weekend Update” segment of “SNL”
- 2000 Reprised appearances in “Dratch & Fey” in NYC
- 2004 Wrote and starred in her first feature film “Mean Girls,” starring Lindsay Lohan
- 2005 Set to star as the head writer of a variety show, which will air on NBC; will write the pilot and serve as executive producer with “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels
- After college, moved to Chicago to study at the Second City
- Raised in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania