Ricky Stanicky - The Movie That Is Yet To Be Made

This movie hasn't even been made yet or even cast, yet it almost seems that the whole of the internet is talking about it.  There has been talk abot this movie for years, but still it isn't being made... Yet.

The plot of this movie sounds like so much fun.

Basically,  its about two men who keep making up excuses by blaming everything on this imaginary guy called Ricky Stanicky. So far, its been rumoured that Jim Carrey has been cast for the lead role, but it really couldn't have already been cast if no one is even making this film yet. When you do a Google search for this movie, it makes you think why have we not heard more about it. Every site has something to say, and every time it comes up with Jim Carrey as the lead.

 

In an interview that i just recently watched with Peter Farrelly, he said that he had been working on the script for the movie, and so if he has been working on it, I bet the movie will be incredibly funny. Its uncertain at this point, but I'd imagine that if Peter Farrelly worked on the script, that he would also be the director. But you know, I'm just speculating, so don't take my word for it. You can check out an interview here where Peter talks about making this movie. If you're interested definitely have a look. 

I really hope that they make this movie soon, I think it will be a hit, especially if Peter Farrelly and Jim Carrey are on board. It even has its own Rotten Tomatoes page, so it has to amount to something.

Have you heard of this movie? It seems to be so popular, and it hasn't even been made yet. I sure can't wait until it's out and I will be pretty excited when it is. What do you think? Would you see it if it's ever made? Do you think it sounds like a good movie? Because I do!

Until Next Time...

Morgan ^^

The 67th Emmy Awards!

The 2015 Emmys are only three days away, and I'm pretty excited to watch. Not because Andy Samberg is hosting, not because Dave Letterman is nominated (and had better win), and not because Lady Gaga will present an award, but because I have never watched the Emmys before in my life time.

I've seen parts of previous Emmys on Youtube, but from what I've read and heard from Andy Samberg in his recent interviews, this particular one will be quite funny. Apparently Key and Peele are going to do something, and Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are doing something too. Hmm... We will have to wait and watch to find out. I really hope the The Lonely Island do something, you know since Andy is the host. I actually sort of expect them to, so if they don't I might be a bit disappointed.

Can I just say, the nominations for best Variety/musical/comedy series is crazy! I'm pretty excited for this category. Nominated is The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Show with David Letterman, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and finally The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I so badly want Letterman to win because of course he can't be nominated again because he's retired. But at the same time, I have this feeling that he won't win, I don't know why, but I kind think that people would lean more towards Fallon or Colbert. Which is totally understandable, they do great shows, but please! Give this one to Dave Letterman. The other guys have at least 20 years left until they retire or get kicked off air. This is Dave's last chance.

Anyway, are you excited to watch the Emmys? I know I am! If you live in USA, they are on Sunday night 20th of September on FOX (I think it was 8:30? Check your listings), and here in Australia it's on Monday 21st of September on FOX8 (foxtel) at 10am.


SO EXCITE!


Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

Creating Sample Writing?!

Recently I emailed a local entertainment magazine to ask if I could volunteer to write some columns or articles, you know, so I could get some writing experience in a professional environment. Well, I was not expecting to get a reply saying 'sure you can!, just send us some of your sample material and tell us what you would like to write about'.

WHAT.

 

I mean, you  can tell from my blog that I'm writing something like every second day, but I guess that this is more of a hobby type of thing than a professional business move (Ha, I wish). But when this opportunity came up I had no idea what to send them, I've never done sample writing before! I looked around on a lot of comedy writing sites to see what I was supposed to send, since this magazine is very much comedy based (yet it's an entertainment guide). I knew a lot about sample packets for late night, but I really don't think that a magazine is going to care much for my comedy sketch scripts.

So I stayed up writing articles about super random things, and I don't think I stopped writing until about 11PM. Two hours of writing, and I came up with a short story and two articles that I probably should have worked harder on. But oh well, hopefully there will be more opportunities, and it was a learning thing. Next time I'll know what to do. In saying that, it's still only been 3 days since I sent my sample stuff so I guess I'll wait a bit longer to see if I get an answer.

If you have something you have to write for and you get asked to give sample pieces, here is a list of what to do so you don't panic like I did.

1. Make sure you know who you are writing for. Trust me, applying for a writing job on a comedy something or rather will always be different to applying to write for a science magazine (duh) Check out if thy have a website and see who the target audience is, I think that could help your chances.

2. If you are writing Late Night style stuff, check out @JoeToplyn on Twitter, he always has some really good tips. While your at it, check out the list that the Sandpaper Suit has on their blog. It is so helpful.

 

3. If you are applying for a local magazine or something similar (as I did) make sure your sample writing is something people in that area will find relatable. For example, if you're from Nebraska, are people living in New York or Los Angeles really going to like reading about corn? I mean, I like corn, but maybe not enough to read about it.

4. Make sure you actually have some writing samples, because you do not want to be staying up late rushing to write out four pages of stuff (Like me.. Oops) You will enjoy the feeling of having something pre-written. Trust me!

If all else fails, apply to a different writing job! Don't give up, you can do it!

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

Pixels Is Out!

I don't know why, but no one ever seems to like Adam Sandler or give him any credit. Obviously someone out there likes the guy otherwise his movies wouldn't be making billions of dollars. I mean everyone quotes his movies, even if they don't know what it's from. (Like "Yuu can do iiit!" from The Waterboy, and "T-t-today Junior!" from Billy Madison.) I like him, just putting that out there.

Yesterday I watched Billy Madison for the first time yesterday, and oh my gosh, if you haven't watched it (surely you have though) you really have to watch it. It is absolutely hilarious. No one told me Chris Farley was in it?! That was seriously the best part though, having that surprise.

Anyway, Adam's new movie Pixels is out now, actually I think it's been out for a while in America but I think it only recently opened in Australia. So the debate is on. To see, or not to see. I'm unsure because in my opinion it looks a bit... I don't know. Just I'm not sure if it's my kind of movie, and the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't help either. The staff gave it 17% and the audience gave it 54%. That really doesn't sound promising.

But you know what? Rotten Tomatoes hated all over one of my favourite movies (Ahem...Master of Disguise) and said it was within the top ten worst movies ever. So in this case I can't really judge until I see it for myself. If you want to read some reviews people have posted on the movie, click here.

Every time I walk past those video screen things in the shopping centre, I always look like an idiot and stop right in front of them when the trailer for Pixels is on them. Visually, it looks super awesome, but I feel the story line won't be too strong. I don't know. I guess if Adam wrote the movie or co wrote it, it could be ok, usually the movies he writes are pretty good.

A lot of people said in the review section of it that the Happy Madison production company isn't making good stuff anymore, but come on! What about The Goldbergs? Did you know that its made with Happy Madison? It's like my favourite TV show. I can't even understand why anyone would dislike it, it's hilarious.

So, do you think that you will go and see Pixels? or have you already watched it? What did you think of it? Is it any good? I hope it is...

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

Sometimes Things Just Aren't Funny

I just finished watching Ace Ventura: Pet Detective for the millionth time. Except, I was watching it with a bunch of friends. Now, I can imagine at this point your probably thinking, 'Gee Morgan, nice story, but who cares?!?' Well the point is that I was laughing at parts that everyone else was not laughing at, and everyone else was laughing at parts that I didn't find too funny. Basically, the point I'm trying to make here is that no matter what a comedian does, or the jokes they tell, there's going to be someone not laughing.

 

A lot of the time I think that people who are trying to start out in the comedy world (ahem....this gal (did I really just say 'gal'? Ew...)) often think their jokes aren't going to make people laugh. which is a possibility, but at the same time I think that you've got to remember that everyone has a different sense of humour. WHICH SUCKS!!!   It's a bit annoying that comedy is subjective, but I think that once you can find your audience everything is all good.

For example, that movie I was watching, Ace Ventura, many people think that it is one of Jim Carrey's greatest movies. I guess because everyone who watches it thinks he's incredibly funny right? Well if you go and watch some of Jim Carrey's early stuff from a million years ago (1980), you'll see him doing a lot of the same stuff like impressions and singing things but he really isn't any good at it. (Sorry Jim :/ ) But then like I said, he perfected things and gained his own audience.

Practice makes perfect right?

I guess that when you bomb as a comic, you shouldn't really be too worried, because someone out there in the universe would have laughed. Unless it was a terrible joke that should have never seen the light of day. In that case you already know why no one laughed. You know, even pro comedians get no laughs sometimes. Honestly if you've watched The Tonight Starring Jimmy Fallon within the past two months, you would have seen a couple of times where his Thankyou Notes got no laughs, and then Higgins got angry at the audience for not laughing. Ha. Even SNL jokes sometimes fail. I swear about 80% of the SNL audience just watches the show to see if anyone breaks character, or to see if the cue cards get dropped and the cast have to quickly make random stuff up.

 

I actually remember watching the Weekend Update bit once and a joke got absolutely no laughs. The audience was silent, and so whoever it was doing the bit (I'm not sure but I think it was Seth Meyers?) ripped up the card the joke was on. And then the crowd roared. Stuff ups on SNL are so funny.

People find different things funny, or maybe sometimes they just don't get the joke. Whatever it is, and if you're a comic, you should remember that someone out there probably would have laughed. But seriously, Don't you hate it when people don't laugh?

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Premier!

Well, if you didn't already know, late night comedy history was made last night. The very first episode of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered last night (at least in Australia, America you've already seen the second episode! And by the time you guys read this, the third episode will almost be on air. Not fair!), and was it an interesting one.

Apart from the usual late night talk show antics (ahem...a guy behind a desk, a house band, a couple of guests and a music act), from what I've watch so far, it was quite an interesting show. The beginning was....very interesting? Or maybe it was cut differently when I watched it online, I don't know. They sung the American Anthem, and then Stephen came out dancing like he was in a chorus line. That is a great introduction. Especially for people (like me) who have never watched his previous show. He must be insane. Just kidding. Maybe.

After that happened though, a little bit of me died inside. The camera panned around to the audience, and just looking at the seating arrangement (Wow, a bunch of seats make me think of Dave. I'm sure he'd be flattered.) had me immediately think of David Letterman. In fact, they could have intercut old footage of Dave's audience and no one would have noticed. That moment made me miss Letterman's show a lot. The Ed Sullivan theatre just isn't the same without him.

Those blue lights though! They're everywhere!

Either Colbert's favourite colour is blue, or the store ran out of white lights. Man, they are everywhere, in the audience under the stairs, behind the desk, in front of the desk. So much blue! Why did the designers do that? (Geez, I'm starting to sound like Seinfeld) To be honest though it hurts my eyes a little bit.

 

 

So I actually only have so far watched the monologue, and gosh he's funny! I watched all of the preview videos the other day to try to get a feel of what his style is, but I wasn't sure. Just watching the monologue now, I can totally see that this is my kind of comedy. I think he is so funny, but it's a different kind of funny to Letterman. This is more high energy, where as Letterman was like 'Eh, I'll tell a joke and I don't really care if you like it or not'.

That history channel joke though....

Stephen, I think you might have a new fan. I hope that in the future they do remotes, that's always my favourite part of a late night show. I'm really excited for what's to come next on the show, I'm sure that it's going to go well. I mean, after the reaction that he got from the audience for the whole duration of the monologue, I know he's going to do well.

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

Monologue Jokes...?

Monologue jokes aren't going anywhere. They are here to stay. Turn on any comedy talk show and 100% of the time, there will be some form of monologue with jokes in it. They've been a thing since forever (that is the actual scientific term) and they will be around forever. And I wrote some!

 

In the wise words of Mike Myer's Cat in the Hat, I'M SO EXCITED!

So I was just clearing out my computer and saving everything over to my external hard drive (because, you know, my computer nearly died last week. So I got scared), and I noticed that I had a file with a page of 'monologue type' jokes on it. Sooooo.....I thought I'd share them with you. Woo!

So, I should probably warn you at this point (like always) that some really aren't that great. But I've got to practice somehow. So here we go. (By the way, I was just reading through them and noticed that some of these jokes sound like I was really angry when I wrote them. I don't think I was....?? And the SNL joke; sorry if I offend anyone ~_~)

And if you were wondering, these jokes were written in May of this year (2015). They are based upon REAL (Yes, real. That dumpster one though...) news stories that I found on the NBC News website. Enjoy!

My Monologue Jokes:

+Vladimir Putin has reportedly gone missing. In related news, the Russian government have issued a new book series titled; “Where’s Vladimir?”

+Research has found that eating late at night can mess with your head. They must have got something wrong because the only thing people consume at night is alcohol; which does mess with your head.

+Experts are now saying that having high levels of testosterone can damage your heart. The research was obviously conducted by women whose boyfriends are narcissistic bodybuilders – “Man I love my muscles”

+A new invention that allows robots to write notes for you in your own handwriting have been created. In other words, now you can write hate mail to your enemies and be like –“It wasn’t me man! It was my robot!”

+Recently, a 19 year old girl from Colorado has tried to join ISIS. Thanks a lot SNL.

+A woman was reported to have given birth to a 14 pound baby. Apparently during her pregnancy all that she ate was Take-out McDonalds and Burger King.

+Robert Downey Jr. has surprised a boy with one arm after he gave the boy a bionic arm. That is not to be confused with the other “bionic arm” that he gives his wife.

+Apple has stated that they are trying to ‘bridge’ the gap between function and fashion with the new Apple Watch. Executives at Chanel and Louis Vuitton have made a statement about this saying that the new apple watch doesn’t comply with this season’s style.

+On the news was a report that said peanut allergies could now be cured with a patch. The patches are by the same company who brought you nicotine patches and coffee patches. In other words, they aren't going to work.

+An article has been released after the Boston Blizzard describing how you should shovel snow without hurting your back. People in Boston have replied; saying they really don’t care.

+A new addition to Facebook messenger will allow users to send actual money, or credit, through the messaging app. Yeah, just make sure you don’t send it to the wrong person.

+Apple and Google have released new products that both incorporate the new hardware of the USB-C drive, allowing you to connect everything and anything into it. The bad news is; you have to buy new cables.

+The new batman vs superman trailer came out last week after it was leaked. Nerds around the country have rallied, saying that no trailer is better than a leaked trailer.

+A five legged lamb was born in the U.K.. And then its twin brother was like, ‘why do I only have three legs?!’

+A teen was reported to find a grown man sleeping inside a dumpster. When woken up and questioned by police, the man said “Where’s my fiesta at??”

+There was a new story on today that asked, ‘is it ok to eat mouldy food?’ The answer….NO!

 

 

I really hope you had fun reading them. I mean, I'm no joke writing pro, but you've got to start somewhere. If you think some aren't funny (or all of them) that's cool too. I really don't see how some of them are funny, and I was the one who wrote them! Please leave a comment telling me what you think of my jokes, and anything you think I could do to improve them. AWESOME!

 

Until Next Time...

Morgan ^^

Performing Stand Up Comedy

Maybe it's just me, but every time I write a joke and look back at it, it stinks. I don't what it is, but I can never seem to write good jokes. At least not in my opinion.

I have a friend who is on the stand up comedy circuit where we live. She goes to all the open mic nights at bars, cafes, and pubs.  She's been doing it for about a year, and she says that in that past years she has bombed a heap, but she's learned so much from it. She keeps encouraging me to give stand up a try, but as much as I really want to do it, I am so scared of what could happen. Geez, the worst that could happen is no one will laugh, I make it sound like I'm about to be shot down by Hitler.

In the wise words of my friend, "The first time you do stand up, you'll probably suck." Well, thanks for the confidence boost. Not to mention the only place in town where I know to do stand up is the tiniest little café you've ever seen. Literally the 'stage' (if you can even call it that) is like a meter squared (which I think is something like three feet squared). Yeah, its small.

Think of all of the great comedians in movies and what not today. Did you know that Adam Sandler used to do stand up comedy? You should see his on stage persona, it is so unlike him today. You can see his super duper old set here. He seems to be a lot calmer. And slightly jittery. Not only was he a stand up comic, but a ton more too. (I just thought he was a good example.)

Jim Carrey performing stand up comedy, from a hundred years ago. Ok, 1980. He was only like 18?!?

Ok, fun fact time. Did you know when you get an audition for SNL you have to perform a five minute stand up routine? So pretty much if you've not done it before, I'd imagine it would be scary.

Anyway, my jokes, I suppose I'm the only judge here since no one has really ever heard any of my jokes besides me. So maybe I should give it a shot. They might not be so bad. (But probs are!) One day I'll give it a shot, and it will be great. But, knowing me, I'll pass out before I say anything. I hate public speaking.

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

SNL Past and Present

Saturday Night Live is about to start it's 41st season, and whilst Miley Cyrus, Amy Schumer, and Tracy Morgan (He's recovered. Woo!) will be the first few guest hosts. As for new  ast members, there only seems to be one new one. That is Jon Rudnitsky, a stand up comedian. The rest of the previous cast will return.

Apparently he has been under fire for having some kind of controversial tweets. But hey, I doubt that that is going to make him not a good comic. A lot of famous people do controversial stuff so they can get noticed. Just look at Miley...and the Katy Perry and Taylor Swift thing. I bet their record sales are sky rocketing. Maybe. You can read the whole story about this new guy here. After reading that, i have to say i don't blame the public for saying he's controversial.

Anyway, he is the only new cast member which I think could be kind of worrying if I were him. There's actually an interview with Rob Riggle where he talks about when he was hired for SNL and he was the only new member. He said something along the lines of 'It's tough, because everyone else has already been there before, and they know what they're doing'. Want to watch that interview with Rob Riggle? Click here!

Ouch.

Oh well, at least he got on the show. Congrats.

SNL has had so many great alumni go through over the years. I can't even imagine how it must have been in about 1989-1991 it would have been (I think) Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Chris Farley, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers. It must have been crazy. They're all so wildly successful now. I wonder if they ever see Lorne Michaels and thank him. Most likely, I guess.

Although, those guys back then probably were thinking, 'wow, how cool would have been to be here when Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi and the rest of them were on.' Probably in 10 or 20 years we'll look back and say 'how awesome was Vanessa Bayer, and Kate Mckinnon, and Fred Armisen?!' Won't we? Hmmmm....

Sometimes I worry a bit for SNL's future because Lorne Michaels must be like at least 60 something now right? I watched an interview where he said that the day he retires is the day that Saturday Night Live will end.

So without further ado, Here's to Lorne Michaels never retiring, and another 40 years of SNL!

Until Next Time...

Morgan ^^

National Lampoon's European Vacation & Vacation 2015!

On Saturday night just past I watched the National Lampoon's European Vacation. If you've read my previous post you'd know that the weekend before I watched the original Vacation. Good Lord, they've done it again. This movie was so hilarious. You've got to watch it.

However I will say, that the European Vacation wasn't quite as funny as the first one, but still it was very, very good. Oh Clark, sweet innocent Clark. Why do you always end up in trouble? Chevy Chase is so funny he really needs to be in more movies. Even though he's kind of old now, it would still be cool if he had some cameos here and there.

SPOILER ALERT: I absolutely loved the part where they all had matching berets with their names on them. So funny. I actually want one. Not to mention the ending of it, that was so good. If you haven't watched it, please, you have to! Want to watch the trailer for European Vacation? Click here.

I cannot wait to watch the next one, Las Vegas Vacation. I can't imagine what they'd get up to there...

So, I actually, very literally (as I write this) just came back from watching the new Vacation. MY GOD. You have to watch it.

 

I have to admit though, it wasn't quite as funny as the original, maybe about as funny as the European Vacation, But it was so good. I could not wipe the smile off of my face for the entire duration of the movie. There was one thing that bugged me a little. When I say this I don't think I'm giving too much away, but throughout the movie there is a truck 'chasing' them. Now, this may seem like something fun to add to the plot for you guys, but for me I felt like I was having deja vu.

Only about an hour before watching Vacation, I was at one of my university lectures where we had to watch "Duel" which apparently was one of Steven Spielberg's first movies. (By the way if you get the chance you should watch that because it was pretty good too.) The uncanny resemblance between this old Spielberg movie and the Vacation movie are very close. At least the parts where the truck is there. But when it is revealed what the truck is doing, I kind of feel as though the writers had twisted Spielberg's idea into a comical ending. You've got to go watch both of the movies now to see what I mean.

Chevy Chase in this movie. The scenes he was in are the reason I live. Ok, maybe that was a bit extreme. But seriously, Chevy in this movie, even though it was a small role, it was so good and made the film just that little bit better. I really don't want to give to much away for those who haven't yet watched it, but the idea is Clark Griswold and his wife now have a B&B. there is this hilarious shot where, instead of changing the bed sheets, Clark just sprays the old, dirty sheets with some disinfectant spray. Classic Clark.

 

There are so many other things I really want to talk about but I don't want to ruin it for the people reading this. I will tell you though, it starts out with the opening sequence just as the other Vacation movies do. Holiday Road song and a montage of pictures. Great way to start. I kind of still don't get how they can sort of steal National Lampoon's ideas for their own movie though. There must have been a lot of copyright papers signed.

You guys, you have to watch it, although there was a lot more dirty jokes (and swearing, might I add) in it then the previous ones, there was still a lot of the same innocent humour used the originals. Definitely go see it, you won't be disappointed. Watch the trailer here. And when you see the end... you will notice they've set it up so they can do a European Vacation remake. It was a bit of a weak ending. But still, if they remake European Vacation, I am on board.

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^

The 2015 VMAs. Oh My God.

Even if you didn't watch the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday (or Sunday if you're in America) chances are you still heard about everything that happened. If you didn't, I have some important information for you, right now.

Kanye West in 2020 will run for President. I kid you not.

I can't be sure if he was joking or serious, but you know, usually Kanye takes himself pretty seriously so I'm going to have to say that he infact was serious about this. I'm a little worried for him though, how many people would actually vote for him? I kind of feel a bit sorry for him in that he's building himself up and then he's most likely going to lose. Then again he does have quite the fan base.

But we're not here to talk politics. The reason I brought this up is because of all the satire that is behind this Kanye thing. I actually can not imagine how many jokes are going to be made about this in most likely every monologue that you hear this week from every late night show. Don't even get me started with SNL. Saturday Night Live, known for it's political satire... I already thought of a sketch that they will probably do.

It will have something to do with a debate, the opponent will say their bit and the Kanye will be like 'yeah, umm, y'all that's great, but....Reagan's speech was better' or something along those lines. The Taylor Swift joke is old, but I bet you guys a million bucks they'll use it.

Another thing I bet SNL will do is have a Kanye campaign thing where there is a new holiday called Kanye day or something where everyone gets of work for a day. Because what's more important than celebrating Kanye? Ohh, just you wait. It'll happen. All the writers,have to do is think 'What would Kanye do?'

On top of this, the internet is about to have an outbreak of Kanye memes. There's some already out there. Look at these...

What do you think about Kanye for President? I actually can't grasp the fact that he's being serious. ThIs year's VMAs were madness compared to the past two years... My God.

Until Next Time...
Morgan ^^