dave submitted a link saying "Kiefer Sutherland is awesome on Twent...wait, is he doing commercials?" See the video here. As Dave mentioned, he also does the voiceover in the new Intel Mac ad and for Verizon ads. I'm surprised by all of these (and the fact I never noticed), though not surprised he does the voiceovers considering he's got a pretty good voice for it.
On the radio this morning they had NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson on talking about how he's got an auction on ebay. As part of Miller's current "beer runner" promotion, he's auctioning the chance to have him at your superbowl party, and as your own personal beer runner for when you run out during the game. The money from the auction is going to a charity he chose. Looking at the ebay seller feedback (the username is goodcallxl, of course) it looks like they have already done 4 other similar auctions for non-Superbowl games.
As of right now the Superbowl auction has 34 bids and is at $4,202, with about 1 day remaining.
I'm jumping into Part II earlier than expected, mostly due to the Stephen Colbert interview I posted just before this.
Stephen Colbert got his start as Steve Carell's "understudy" at Second City (read the previous article for more information). Second City was co-founded by Del Close (who Stephen Colbert met). Del was the one who, in the 70s, discovered John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis, Betty Thomas, George Wendt, Tim Kazurinsky and John Candy; most of them still consider Del their most important teacher (from here). Del also was the tutor for the Upright Citizens Brigade (Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh (another Daily Show connection!), and Ian Roberts).
Carell and Colbert also provided the voices of Ace and Gary in the Ambiguously Gay Duo, which started on the Dana Carvey Show before moving to SNL.
Steve Carell met his wife, Nancy Walls, while at Second City. Carell came to the Daily Show because Colbert was already on it and he recommended they hire him. Nancy Walls was also a correspondent on The Daily Show. She also was on SNL for a season, with fellow Second City alum David Koechner, known to some as Anchorman's Champ Kind (ridiculous imdb photo).
Steve Carell also starred in both Anchorman and Bewitched with Will Ferrell, which sets us up for the upcoming Part III, based on Dave's comment under part I!
Stephen Colbert recently was interviewed by the Onion's AV Club, and actually talked about a lot of interesting things like how he got his start and comparing his show to The Daily Show.
Here's video of the only(?) time he has totally lost it and cracked up on camera, during a piece on the Daily Show. It's probably the funniest segment in the show's history.
Read on for interesting excerpts from the AV Club interview (it was actually hard finding excerpts, the whole interview is good).
The Upright Citizens Brigade was a show on Comedy Central with twisted sketch comedy starring Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, and Matt Walsh. Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh went on to star in a movie that also had Amy Poehler and Matt Besser in it, called Martin and Orloff. This independent movie costars David Cross, and Kim Raver (now on 24). It also had Andy Richter, Rachel Dratch, Jeanene Garafalo, and Tina Fey in it for about 5 seconds. The movie is ridiculous, but hilarious - and recently became available on DVD. If you liked either Mr. Show or Upright Citizens Brigade, I'd recommend the movie. It's in the same comedy vein.
David Cross and Amy Poehler were also both on Arrested Development. Matt Walsh used to be a correspondent on The Daily Show. David Cross also was one half of Mr. Show (the other half was Bob Odenkirk). They were often introduced at the beginning of that show by Mary Lynn Rajskub, who also was in a few episodes. But most people probably know her better as Chloe on 24.
So there you go - at least 2 connections to each of the shows/movies I mentioned at the beginning. Coming in Part 2: Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Nancy Walls, and more!
I was watching Comedy Central last night and caught an ad saying Chappelle Show is seriously back for a third season. In fact, you can catch a preview of it on Comedy Central's website through their Motherload service. Speaking of which, I need to try that out - it seems to have a lot of cool internet-only content (Colbert Report, Daily Show, etc.), all for free.
There was a spectacular piece on The Daily Show where Ed Helms explains taints in politics. It's quite a shocking report, on the internet courtesy of Gorillamask.net
Update: Thanks to the new Daily Show website, I can now embed this here:
dave submitted 2 links to Deadspin stories related to the Fiesta Bowl. The first is about Laura Quinn, whose boyfriend and brother were playing each other in the game. She wore a jersey which had one side for each team, and apparently was shown constantly on camera. The first comment on the page: "Just the thought that somebody took time out of their lives to make that jersey is beyond me. What's worse is she probably thinks its the greatest, most clever thing in the history of mankind." The second link is to an image of a poster held up at the game.
The 360 is Nike's first shoe to eliminate foam from the middle sole and replace it with air. Unlike foam, air doesn't lose its shape or cushioning. The air sole holds up better than the foam sole, but the rest of the shoe goes through the same wear and tear as a foam shoe, says Jeff Pisciotta, Nike's senior researcher. "This is about trying to get people to run faster, better and longer and about minimizing the risk of injuries."
Despite Nike's push for performance, buyers will be more interested in form than function, says John Horan, publisher, Sporting Goods Intelligence. "They will sell 95% of them to guys and women who think they look cool with their jeans," Horan says. Looking cool might be more important than running faster. While 34% of all basketball shoes are used to play basketball, 22% of running shoes are used for running, says Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at NPD.
