New Location For UCB Theatre

I've never been to a UCB show (and probably never will) but I was real sad when their old theatre had to shut down in November, but it looks like they found a new home:

http://www.ucbtheatre.com/index.cfm?action=viewnewsitem&newsid=224

Arts And Crafts, Arts And Crafts

I made a doodle of TDS people in my journal today:
(put your mouse over the image to see who's who)


I drew Colbert like Bono, and Steve looks like the guy in office space who wore glasses, (not the boss guy), but in this case he's not wearing glasses.

Note to self : never do doodles ever again.

which leads me to the main reason why I posted this:

I'm thinking of doing a section of the site devoted to people's drawings/artwork of TDS people. (Jon, correspondents, don't matter). Submissions can be sent here, and leave a name so I can give you credit. You can do them by hand and scan them, do them in microsoft paint, do something in photoshop with an image, cover your wall in TDS pictures. Anything

My Arty-Fartsy Wall

I'm making a black wall in my room and I'm going to put some of my digital photos, and some of my screen caps on it, and I just had to put this one up on the wall this morning, its so artsy!:

I Can't Think Of A Title...

Whoever updates Ed's site updated it recently (I only go over there once a month, so who knows, it could of been re-done a month ago).

Thirty-Five Min. Later...

Friday, reporting live from `The Daily Show'
March 13, 2003
By AMY ELLIS LUNA, COURANT STAFF WRITER

It's not often that a reporter gets to hear an impromptu banjo performance over the phone while conducting an interview.

But that was the case Monday when I spoke with Ed Helms, a correspondent with Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Helms has been with show since April.

Helms comes to Hartford Friday night, showcasing his comedic craft at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts' "Ha! Ha! Hartford!" show. The show also features comedians Eric McMahon and Goshen resident Nancy Tucker; Tucker was the first-place winner at the 2002 Connecticut Comedy Festival. Damon Scott of WTIC-FM hosts.

Q: What are you planning for the show?

A: Well, I wrote an entire hourlong set about Hartford. So that's what I'm going to do. [laughing] That's not true at all.

Q: Do you have material already written?

A: I have a stable of material that I draw from at every show but ... I'm not treating this particular show much differently than most shows, do you know what I mean, as far as how I'm going to perform and what I'm going to say. But I guess I will definitely be sort of speaking specifically to and about Connecticut a little bit. I usually write at least a little bit of material that has regional relevance to the venue.

Q: Do you prefer doing television to stand-up?

A: I love stand-up, and I love being on this particular TV show. One of the great things about this show is that it has a live audience. So there's a lot of sort of crossover as far as what I like about each one.

Q: And you've done commercials also. That must be completely different?

A: It is. It's [a] totally different skill set and it's a different medium altogether. But, um, I just really enjoy any opportunity to make an ass of myself. Honestly. If I can act like an idiot in a commercial, then it's fun for me, I'll enjoy it. And if it's on this show ["The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"] then [it's] just as well and it's what I spend all my time on stage doing as a stand-up.

Q: Who comes up with the material for the segments you do on the show?

A: That is a very common question, and the answer is not terribly simple.

Q: Do you have a lot of input?

A: Yes. The short answer is yes, but the specific breakdown is, there are basically two types of segments that the correspondents do. And those are field segments where we actually go out into the field and shoot something and come back and spend a week or so editing it and getting it together like a "Dateline" piece. And then there are studio segments where we might do a chat with Jon about what's going on at the White House that day or "Ad Nauseam," which is the comment on the current commercials. So typically the things that happen in the studio that day, that are usually written and shot that day, are written by the writers. If there is an opportunity for the correspondent to collaborate on that, then that's encouraged, but it doesn't always happen because there's not a lot of free time. So a lot of times things get written and handed to you to do in the studio, which is great anyway because the writers are so solid.

Q: What's it like working with Jon Stewart?

A: It's great. Wait, let me finish answering [the last question]. The other segments, the field segments, the correspondents are much more involved in. And so those are, that's where we spend the bulk of our time, writing and working on those, the field segments. And those are basically a collaboration between the field producer, the correspondent and the editor at the end of the day.

Q: And working with Jon?

A: It's great. He's the man. He's got his finger on just about every aspect of the show ... which is cool because I think it keeps everything at a really consistent and high level. He's truly gifted, and he's very easy to work with.

Q: Do you get the sense that some people use "The Daily Show" as their primary news source?

A: I don't have any sense about that but I've heard that; certainly that's been told to me by various people. I think I've read that different places. You want to know what I think about that?

Q: Yes.

A: I think it's kind of sad actually ... It's sad, but on the other hand, what are your options? Fox News Channel? ... I like to think of the "Daily Show" as, first and foremost, it's a comedy show and that's the priority, so we will fudge anything for the sake of comedy. So we can't be trusted, bottom line. And a lot of times we get criticized for not adhering to journalistic standards.

Q: You're a comedy show!

A: Right. At no point did any of us claim to be journalists or claim to be doing journalism ... we're a topical satire show is the bottom line.

Q: When did you start playing the banjo? Or is that a joke?

A: It's not a joke at all. It's one of those little things that I'm proud of and I wanted to make sure it was shoehorned into the bio somehow ... In fact, I've got it right here as a matter of fact. I keep it in my office. I started, I guess, in early teens.

(At this point Helms starts playing me a song.)

Q: Oh, great. I'm getting a concert. This is cool.

A: Here ya go.

Q: Hey, you're pretty good.

A: That's nothin.

Q: You planning to go on tour with the banjo? Hit some clubs?

A: Not all all, no. Definitely not ... I play bluegrass with some friends but it's very informal.

No, Really, Am I Annoying?

Ed has a page on am i annoying or not.com. There's also some other TDS people around on the site also. (check the recently added part). I have one complaint though: why did they use his old (without glasses) press photo? I mean he's completely unrecognizable without his glasses.

"Finally, technology that does something useful.

In case you've missed a lot of Ed segments on Daily Show (or you just want to see them again - that is, if you have high speed internet) I just remembered that Comedy Central now lists all the video clips by correspondents now. So here is (nearly) every daily show piece Ed has ever done. Just a remidner that they're in (shudder) real player format.

Couldn't They Of Shown A Plant Instead? I Mean Everyone Can Identify With A Dead Plant

If anyone saw Ad Nauseam last night, you remember the Quizno's ad about with the clip of the dead bird, well I was watching South Park a few minutes ago, and Comedy Central just showed the quiznos ad l!! (at least on my side they did). I swear to god! With the dead bird and everything! I hadn't seen the ad in like a month before TDS showed a clip of it again last night, and here I saw the whole thing again for the first time in a month.

I Bet If You Go There, There's a Statue Of Ed There..

Texas Christian University really really liked Ed. They even gave him his own conference:

Ed Helms to talk of life, comedy at RTVF’s alumni conference
By Nyshicka Jordan
Staff Reporter


An average day at the office for comedian Ed Helms is all about making his co-workers laugh, he said. Despite the laughter in the office, being a comic comes with stress and hard work, he said.


“In a way, it’s the most fun job in the world because you’re making people laugh,” Helms said. “But it can be terrifying too because you’re in a position where you have to make people laugh.”


Helms, a stand-up comic and a correspondent for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” will be the keynote speaker at for the Fourth Annual Radio-TV-Film Alumni Conference today.


The alumni conference’s purpose is to help undergraduates learn ways to be successful in radio, TV and film careers after college by listening to the experiences of alumni who attend, radio-TV-film chairman Roger Cooper said.


Cooper said he met Helms when “The Daily Show” did a segment about a man who got caught in a chimney, and “The Daily Show’s” joke was that it happened because the man watched the movie “Mary Poppins.” Cooper said he was called to be a part of the show to speak in the segment as a “media expert.”


Cooper said after the interview he asked Helms to speak at the conference luncheon because the comic has an understanding of the radio-TV-film major.


“The (radio-TV-film) department likes for speakers to have insight and be entertaining,” Cooper said.


Helms said he was a film major in college and did editing and production before moving full time into comedy.


At the luncheon, Helms said he will talk about his background in television and production, what he has learned from the industry and his career philosophy.


“My philosophy centers around work ethic and focus and making deliberate choices and putting a colossal amount of effort behind it,” Helms said.


Helms said he agreed to be the guest speaker because he is fascinated by the process of achieving one’s goals and he enjoys interacting with college students.


He said students should not believe their dreams are not accessible and that they should not be deterred by fears. If it is looked at the right way, fear can be a motivator, Helms said.


“If you see someone with the job you want, there is no reason you can’t have it because that person was where you are at some point,” Helms said.


After the conference, students and the public can get a dose of Helms’ comedy which he said is his general take about life, absurd day-to-day events and social awkwardness.


Two groups from the radio-TV-film sketch course will perform 15-minute skits as the opening act of each show, radio-TV-film associate professor Richard Allen said.


Krista Adamson, a senior radio-TV-film major, said the groups will perform skits that they have developed in class this semester and that some of the skits will include a cave man who picks up a woman from the prom and teen-age baby who goes to a college interview.


Adamson said she is a fan of “The Daily Show” and said Helms’ visit is a good way to include more students who may not be familiar with the radio-TV-film department.


“I think it is something to get more students involved in the department,” Adamson said. “It’s a little bit more inclusive for students that aren’t majors or minors. A lot of people don’t know what we do over here.”

Can't These People Think Of Other Titles Other Than Using The World "Daily"?

Posted on Fri, Feb. 28, 2003

'Daily' laughs
Ed Helms, 'correspondent' for comedy news show, brings fun to Fort Worth
By Todd Camp
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

If you know comedian Ed Helms only from his frequent reports on Comedy Central's mock news program The Daily Show, then you don't really know Ed Helms.

"To hang out with Ed Helms is very different than to watch me on The Daily Show," Helms says of his TV alter ego. "I'm a much looser, more informal kind of person than the presentation on the show. My stand-up is more like just hanging out with me."

You can judge for yourself when Helms comes to Texas Christian University Friday for two stand-up comedy shows sponsored by TCU's radio-television-film department.

But just because he plays a news correspondent on TV, does that give Helms any insight into the rough-and-tumble, dry-and-set, stand-and-pose world of television journalism?

"I am a comedian, I am not a journalist," Helms says emphatically. "Wait, let me rephrase that. I am a journalist."

He may be more serious than he realizes, especially after a recent report included The Daily Show as a major news source for many viewers -- alongside the big three networks' nightly news and newsmagazines -- a fact that Helms and company find kind of frightening.

"I think that it's actually pretty sad if people are getting the bulk of their news information from the show," he says. "What's really amusing to me is when people try to hold The Daily Show to journalistic standards. They start to point out where we're coming up short as journalists. And I just have to remind them that we are fake. This is comedy."

The Atlanta, Ga., native knows a little something about comedy, having toiled as a stand-up for a number of years. He studied the art of improvisation under the expert tutelage of New York's Upright Citizens Brigade, a talent that comes in handy during his correspondence reports for The Daily Show, where he's been working as a correspondent since April of last year.

A recent report on people who suffered injuries while imitating scenes from popular movies brought Helms to Fort Worth last month to interview local resident Mark Vaughn, who had gotten stuck while trying to slide down his mother-in-law's chimney.

Whether or not interviewees are in on the joke is one of the most-often-asked questions of the Daily Show cast, Helms says.

"It's amazing the things you can get away with if you say it with a totally straight face. It's shocking, actually," he says of some interview subjects. "You can ask them if they spread toe jam on their toast, and they'll be taken aback for a second. But as long as you engage them and don't smile, they'll answer you seriously.

"People get so in their own world, and in their own set of beliefs, they don't realize when you are just coiling out rope for them to hang themselves."

Helms says not to expect much Daily Show-inspired political humor in his stand-up act, however, because that's something you might expect from the other Ed Helms.

"It's pretty straight-ahead, accessible stand-up dealing with the inherent awkwardness that we all live with on a daily basis," he says. "But I don't anticipate dramatically changing people's lives."