The comedy troupe "Asperger's Are Us" is a group of four performers on the autism spectrum. They met at a summer camp for kids with Asperger's Syndrome and discovered a shared love of comedy. Now they tour the country, performing live shows and releasing videos online.
The group's performances are often unconventional, with skits that involve absurdist humor and unexpected twists. They also incorporate their unique perspectives on life and their experiences with Asperger's into their comedy. Their goal is to challenge the idea that people with autism are not capable of being funny or entertaining.
Touring can be challenging for the group due to the sensory overload of new environments and the need for routine. But they have found ways to cope, such as sticking to a strict schedule and practicing mindfulness. Their success as comedians with Asperger's has helped to break down barriers and promote understanding of neurodiversity in the entertainment industry.
Jane by Design keeps busy balancing fashion job and school. But Jane is just a teenager! Jane Quimby (Erica Dasher from The Lake, Vicariously) is a high school student yet managed to accidently get herself a job with responsibilities as an assistant to a fashion designer, Gray Chandler Murray (Andie MacDowell of At Risk, The Front). Now it's up to Jane to keep up at school and hold down her job. Her parents are gone and her big brother, Ben can't seem to keep a job for long so Jane tries her best to help out with the finances. Ben Quimby (David Clayton Rogers from Sublime, Dark Ride) finally lands a job as athletic assistant in Jane's school. He is Jane's guardian since their father died and mother left. Jane also has a longtime crush on Nick Fadden but her main goal is keep her grades up and maintain her busy job. That's a lot of responsibility on a young girls shoulders! Original show title was What Would Jane Do.
A comedy based a book with the lengthy title like House of Lies: How Managements Consultants Will Steal Your Watch And Then Tell The Time exemplifies how well some management consultants can "pull the wool" over the eyes of businesses who hire them. Created by Matthew Carnahan (writer producer of Dirt, The Fugitive) House of Lies is a biting satire with devilishly good characters that are fun to watch each week if only to see who they will "screw" next! With a stellar cast including Don Cheadle (Ocean's Eleven, Traffic) as Marty Kaan a cutthroat and highly successful consultant that goes to any lengths to help his clients, Dawn Olivieri (Takedown, Drop Dead Gorgeous) as Marty's pill popping nutty ex-wife Monica, Ben Schwartz (Everybody's Fine, The Other Guys) is Clyde Oberholt a member of Marty's team of consultants. Also starring are Kristen Bell as Jeannie Van Der Hooven, another consultant and Richard Shiff as Marty's boss. Plenty of crazy antics as the "team" go about getting information for their clients by any means possible.
With much humor derived from some cast members of Saturday Night Live and with approval from Lorne Michaels himself, Portlandia was born. The name Portlandia refers to a sculpture with that title found over the entrance doors of the Portland Building which is situated in downtown Portland on Fifth Avenue. The show has the fast paced comedy touch that SNL is well noted for and cast members Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein help keep it moving along. With Lorne Michaels as executive producer and creative writing from Fred Armisen, Jonathan Krisel, and Carrie Brownstein the show appears to have a bright future. We see how popular restaurants along the famous Hawthorne District in Portland handle irate dinner guests when they leave rather nasty reviews on a website titled Yelp! Another episode finds how badly a one man performance can actually be at the Hollywood Theatre, a local historic building in northeast Portland. If it happens in or around Portland it might end up on the show in some fashion, most likely comedic in tone. Portlandia currently runs on the IFC (Independent Film Channel).
Remember Tim "the tool man" Taylor from Home Improvement? Well he's back, sort of. The character Allen plays in Last Man Standing is named Mike Baxter and is practically identical to Tim Taylor in many ways. To make him entirely different would most likely be impossible due to Tim Allen's strong personality and likeability. And while the Taylor character had a wife named Jill (Patricia Richardson) and three sons, Baxter has daughters and a wife (Nancy Travis). Family matters most as it should, especially in the sit-com environment. Mike Baxter also has a "manly" job. He works at an outdoorsy sporting goods store where men buy tents, guns, and fishing gear. Mike used to handle the store's catalog but they seem to be extinct ever since internet sales became so popular. Now his duty is in making promo videos that go up on their web site. Just as with Home Improvement the quality and appeal of Last Man Standing is in the sharp writing and the high quality of the actors involved. Mike Baxter knows far well he's outnumbered with females in his household so turns to his boss (Héctor Elizondo) and friends for some comic relief.
Sketches are a comics best format for television and Nick Swardson has a show that's loaded with them. Each episode displays some sort of rank and raunchy humorous ingredients that will make 7th graders giggle and adults cover their heads. But along the way some of it is actually funny even if rather dark. Skits about cats in wheelchairs, snipers who masturbate, and incestual dreams involving the Nightmare on Elm Street movies are unusual fare for family television nights and when the show's main character sits and tells us about what we are about to see we begin to wonder what world this is. Nick's dead cat, Fitzgerald, is fair game for another episode as are a fatherly bucket list for a dying son, urine powered cars, and even a Gay Robot. Never one to be short on "off the wall" ideas, Nick Swardson's Pretend Time will give viewers a peek into a rather weird place, the mind of Swardson. Imagine, if you will, recovering a time capsule full of sex objects, or following Gay Robot as he buys airplane tickets to visit the alien probe site (area 51 come to mind?), or maybe learn how a forest ranger steps in to break up intimate moments between homosexuals. All this and more can be found on the Nick Swardson's Pretend Time show.
Remember high school and those mean girls who seemed to love tormenting someone who was shy or just didn't quite fit in? Those who took every advantage and used it to pester or torment others who just wanted to be left alone? They were and still remain bullies and mean people. Parents of daughters who now are targeted by a bully at school are trying to help by "toughening" up their daughters or even stepping in to protect them. Mothers of a bully are also finding they need to help. They need to find out why their girls do such mean things and how they came to be such mean people. When Annie Watson (played by Jaime Pressly from My Name Is Earl) notices her daughter Sophie is mocking her and constantly trying to embarrass her own mother, she knows it may be her own fault because she always allowed her daughter to do pretty much whatever she chose. Nikki Miller (played by Katie Finneral from Sex In The City) grew up being fat and unpopular now sees her daughter as the type who used to tease her back in high school. The fathers aren't much help with daughters who bully so it's up to the moms to teach these manipulative young women how to "play nice" and grow up as decent people.
Enlightened brings the very talented Laura Dern to television as Amy Jellicoe, an executive who has found her job and her life to be too much to bear. When she suffers from a breakdown which just happens to be a very public embarrassing situation for her, she finds she must attempt to put her life back together by going through rehabilitation. Watch for Diane Ladd who plays Amy's mother, Helen Jellicoe (she is Dern's real life mother). Amy spends three months in Hawaii where she undergoes therapy to help with her problems, then returns home to face reality and the group of co-workers she embarrassed herself by breaking down in front of, living with her mother who is never short on unwelcome advice, and a lazy ex-husband (Luke Wilson) who enjoys his "recreational" drugs too much. Laura Dern is known for her roles in Jurassic Park, Rambling Rose, & Wild At Heart. Actress Diane Ladd has starred in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Primary Colors, & Wild At Heart. She and actor Bruce Dern are Laura's parents. Luke Wilson has been seen in 3:10 To Yuma, Blades of Glory, & Death at a Funeral; and he is brother of Owen Wilson.
