David Letterman

How to Get Signed In Five Easy Steps, Starring Hacienda

Maybe it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Maybe luck has something to do with it. Or maybe it's crafting a vintage-era sound with odes of talent that landed Hacienda a lottery ticket to musical gold. It's no secret that The Black Keys likes to take on extra projects, a ... More >>

Five Bands Who Could Replace The Roots On Late Night

This past Sunday, NBC announced that Seth Meyers will officially take over as the host of Late Night, when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in early 2014. But with Meyers set to inherit a show with a tradition of turning talk-show hosts into late-night greats (David Letterm ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, "Roger Goodell Is Better Than FEMA" Edition

So how bad was the controversial ending of Monday night's Seahawks-Packers game for the NFL? Well, consider that the story got coverage on every major national news show Tuesday morning, was the subject of a David Letterman Top 10 list, and prompted President Obama to comment publicly on the topic ... More >>

Bachman & Turner Keep Their Business Open On New DVD

Bachman & Turner: Live at the Roseland Ballroom, NYC $14.98 90 mins. Eagle Rock While some politicians have faced a musician's wrath for using unauthorized music in their campaign events, Randy Bachman and Fred Turner were more than happy to perform their enduring tune "Takin' Care of Business" at ... More >>

John Witherspoon

Found Footage Film Festival

Saturday Night: James McMurtry, Jason Isbell at Firehouse Saloon

Photos by Jason WolterJason Isbell (left) with Amanda Shires on violin.​Wow, Rocks Off is a huge fan of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, but Saturday night this hard-charging band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama got a lesson in Texas big beat. Isbell himself was sitting in the backstage area while J ... More >>

The Five Best Talk-Show Guests, Ranked

The new Tom Hanks movie Larry Crowne was a bland bomb, but that's okay: He did publicity for it, and that means showing up on (just about any and all) talk shows as a guest. What makes a good talk-show guest? Someone who understands the dynamic -- you're not having anything close to a real conversa ... More >>

Oprah Vs. Bob Dylan: A Side-By-Side Showdown

Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​In case you've been under a complete self-imposed total media blackout - how do those work, by the way? - you no doubt know this week is a pretty important milestone in the lives of two of America's most important cultural figureheads. Maybe the two most ... More >>

RIP, Harvey Pekar: Why His Letterman Performance Was Great

Harvey Pekar died today.The man's career is difficult to sum up, especially if you haven't seen American Splendor. But this 1987 performance on David Letterman's show gives a taste, not to mention that it demonstrates just how far the Letterman show has changed.Some reasons why the clip is great:

The End Is Near for Conan O'Brien

​I can't believe it's come to this. As most people know by now, Conan O'Brien will be exiting The Tonight Show, likely after Friday's show. It's a bitter end to his truncated run on the show, and the real hell is how easily it could have been avoided if things had just played out the way peop ... More >>

The Week In TV: We're With Coco

​The weekend's gone, the sun is out, and the only marathon I did this weekend consisted of Whataburger taquitos. This was the week in TV Land: • So! Conan and Jay are probably not going to make buddy comedies together any time soon, or ever. The growing animosity between the two -- mainly ... More >>

The Week in TV: "I'll Have...A Birthday Cake!"

​It was a pretty fun week in TV Land: Most of the fall programs are beginning to settle in, the CW continued its inexplicable existence, and David Letterman hit it with some employees. Insert your Worldwide Pants jokes here, and let's get to it! • I won't go into much here about FlashForwa ... More >>

Who Do We Have to Blow Around Here to Get a Lady in Late Night?

Okay, fine. We can deal with not having a lady president (still), but with the recent overflow of testicle-wearing late night hosts, it got me thinking, why no late night lady hosts?Joan Rivers tried once and was ridiculed (and yeah, Joan isn't my favorite lady comedian of all time, but come on, ... More >>

Bill Hicks, Still Dead 15 Years Later

Wholly influential and ridiculously honest stand-up comic Bill Hicks died fifteen years ago today, succumbing to lung cancer. Ironically he had always opined that that was how he would meet his end. Smoking seemed to be his obsession and he was rarely seen onstage not puffing away. The comedian move ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: 2008's Heavy Rotation

For the second (third?) year in a row, LOM didn't vote in either the Nashville Scene's best of country music poll or the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop best of American music poll. I'm just not a good list-maker. Detest that stuff. Just trying to compile a list of possibles makes my brain hate me. ... More >>

Jake Johannsen

A Letterman favorite drops into The Improv

Please Don’t Take My SportsCenter

The Gates

Robert Mayles’s film documents Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s largest and most controversial project yet

Six Degrees of Charlie Wilson’s War

Bob Biggerstaff and Mike MacRae

These two top comedians share the stage

Funny Business

Once upon a time Houston was a hot spot for comedy clubs. Now it's anybody's guess on who'll turn out on any given night

Re: (Not Actually) In the Line of Fire

Re: Michael Richards: Call Him Ku Klux Kramer?

All-Day Suckers

Sedaris and Colbert peddle Candy not everybody wants

The Reel Truth

Hollywood claims the sky is falling. To which we say Puh-lease.

Hard Act to Follow

A rock-climber does the unthinkable to save himself

Working Blue. And Brown.

Inside the dirtiest joke ever told is a nugget of unadulterated joy

Proud Marie

A fiery poet shares her Home Grown flow

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Big-Brother Ballet

Break-dancing Nazis populate Freneticore's 1984

Waves of Fascination

Shortwave radio: Where the lunatic fringe lives, breathes and flourishes

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

End of the Road

Trio is the network where great shows go to die, and so much more

Best Laundromat

Graustark Laundry

Wiley Has Issues

Bet you can't look away from "Bongo Jane" Wiley

Booty of the Month Club

The Roxy's 2002 Model Calendar has some girls worried that more than their slip is showing

Blow Up the Box

TV managed to suck and blow in 2000, but still, we watched...and watched

What, Them Worry?

As Mad celebrates its 400th issue, its editors wonder how to stay funny in a world gone mad

Alison Cook looks back at 1997: The Year That Bit

A Slice of Heaven

New York Pizzeria bakes up a pie that's the stuff of dreams

Press Picks

Radio Daze

Howard Stern shows off his Private Parts, and they're really quite nice

Press Picks

The Tesh Touch

So John Tesh was a TV star? Hey, don't blame him -- he didn't want it.

Press Picks

Press Picks

The Year of Living Anxiously

Are We Having Fun Yet? Or is it just the jangly buzz of advanced urban stress syndrome?

Death of a Comic

Bill Hicks wasn't Houston's most famous funnyman, just the most important

Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women

Now at the Rodeo: swift swine and lady trick-riders. Sorry, no flaming hoops.