Nate Haduch

After the teaser was released earlier this month, here's a longer look at HBO's upcoming comedy Silicon Valley starring Thomas Middleditch, Josh Brener, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Amanda Crew, Zack Woods, Matt Ross, T.J Miller, and Christopher Evan Welch. This trailer also includes a scene with Andy Daly and some real talk about who makes your iPhone porn stash possible.

SNL just released this cool time lapse video, showing all the moving pieces in Studio 8H during an SNL taping by speeding the video up really fast. It's from this weekend's Anna Kendrick episode, in case you want to try to sync up the audio of that episode to 50 times its usual speed while you watch this.

Jack White bends the rules of physical releases more than just about anyone. Between the 3″ mini records, the records set free on balloons, and combination 7″ & 12″ records it’s no surprise that he was named Ambassador Of Record Store Day last year, and it’s no surprise that he has something ridiculous in mind for this one. White claims he will make “The World’s Fastest Released Record,” and those who head to his Third Man Record store can be a part of it. The plan, which you can see described from TMR below, involves White playing and recording a live rendition of the title track from his upcoming Lazaretto at 10AM, followed by some fun and festivities while the master is rushed off to be pressed and packaged, with the final copies of the record to be in buyers’ hands by late afternoon. Check the full description below and the awesome poster up above. Tickets to the event are available to a very limited number of Platinum Member Subscribers to TMR — learn more about that here, but you should still be able to pick up a copy of the record outside the store once they’re pressed.

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Since premiering in January, Comedy Central's Broad City has been gaining momentum as not just television's funniest breakout comedy but one of the freshest concepts to get the TV treatment in a while. While it has the sketch mastery roots of Kroll Show, the offbeat weirdness of Portlandia, and the Millenial female-driven New Yorker theme of Girls, Broad City has remained singularly new and exciting thanks to the onscreen chemistry and deft rapport of series creators/stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. Ahead of tonight's season finale, here's a look at why Broad City killed it this season, and why we can't wait until Glazer and Jacobson get to do it again in season 2.

UCB's newest television club: Considering Glazer and Jacobson are both UCB alums who have the backing of executive producer and UCB co-founder Amy Poehler, it's only right that the Broad City world was populated with UCB friends throughout the season. One of my favorite performances came from Paul W. Downs, who plays Abbi's douchey but somewhat sympathetic boss at the trendy upscale gym Solstice who is conflicted between his professional authority and New Agey Solstice-sponsored belief system. Fellow UCBer Chris Gethard was also a nice addition as the resigned wet blanket online business boss opposite the unproductive and often unpaid Ilana, not to mention all the guest roles from Amy Poehler, Seth Morris, Rachel Dratch, Amy Sedaris, Fred Armisen, and a pile of others.

Broad City's biggest supporting breakout this season was Hannibal Buress as Ilana's fuck buddy Lincoln, a semi-sensitive and semi-apathetic dentist whose sugar daddiness comes to the ladies' rescue multiple times, dentistry-related and otherwise; Buress brought the most sanity to the series and makes a much needed well-adjusted foil to Ilana and her spontaneous free love style, so hopefully he returns with an equally big role next season (whether or not he'll have his own Comedy Central show too). My only character gripe on Broad City was Abbi's roommate Bevers — actually her roommate's boyfriend — who John Gemberling played up so well that it evoked all my past dirty roommate memories and, after one too many fart jokes, was a little too accurately gross to handle. To Bevers's credit, though, he's good at getting Abbi out of the house as often as possible, so there's that. The girls don't really need that kind of boyish fluff though, as it only distracts from how good they are on their own when they're just shooting the shit on the streets of New York.

Broad City's New York struggle feels real: Beyond the writing and performances on Broad City, one of the things I've admired most this season is the show's acute attention to creating a believable world for the characters. From their measly gym and online coupon jobs to their post-college-budget apartments to their desperate round of retail returns to scrounge up enough money for a Lil Wayne Concert, the set design and overall premise behind Abbi and Ilana's NYC lives feels refreshingly real and avoids gussying itself up just to be pretty on television. In terms of depicting financially struggling creative urban transplants, I don't think the "realness" of Broad City has been matched since Bret and Jemaine's skeazy Chinatown apartment on Flight of the Conchords, and it's obvious that Abbi and Ilana know that struggle all too well. Considering much of the ladies' everyday problems stem from their young age and lack of financial security, the amount of work put into making those problems believable only makes the comic payoff more worthwhile; who hasn't seen a bag of stale bagels outside a bakery and at least momentarily considered taking them home? Or done so? Despite the pair's setbacks, Abbi remains determined to rise the ranks at Solstice from her dirty gig as a glorified janitor, and Ilana never lets her day job get in the way of her wild party side or preference for wearing work-inappropriate crop tops.

By women, not necessarily for women: In a world where men still rule most television writing staffs, it's quite notable that a two-woman-helmed web series-turned-show has hit it so big on Comedy Central with critics and viewers alike and earned enough network faith to land a second-season order. While Broad City is undeniably female-driven, no filters are in place to prevent it from depicting the brutally honest facets of life for many 20-something New Yorkers, and those facets of life don't make a difference whether or not you have a Y-chromosome. Weed, weddings, clogged toilets, fuck buddies, roommate masturbation, rooftop parties, tax-related receipts — the concepts are all fairly relatable, and they're merely used to ground Glazer and Jacobson as they navigate life and their own half-platonic, half-sexual best-friendship.

The most successful Broad City episodes this season took a really simple idea and transformed it into an oddball adventure — particularly Abbi's creepy journey to find her neighbor's missing package in "Working Girls" — and allowed Glazer and Jacobson do what they do best, which is show off how well they work off of each other and let us overhear their most intimate conversations. And just when it seems certain that Abbi is the ideal straight man and Ilana is the wild comic relief, all Abbi needs is a bump of cocaine in the bathroom or a self-inflicted epipen jolt and the roles completely reverse. Broad City is nothing if not a stream of surprises, and though it gets compared in theme to Girls a lot, the two shows couldn't be more different. For one thing, there's a sense of anarchy — these ladies don't just have real problems, they transcend the clichés of boyfriend-girlfriend banality or feeling awkward and out of place at parties and instead stand on the tables of fancy restaurants and fearlessly howl at the moon. Unlike so many lifeless sitcoms and comedy stars, these women are authentically kickass and know how to rock, party, and throw down hilarious physical humor in ways we haven't seen since John Belushi in Animal House or the Marx Brothers before them. New York is a tough place for a 20-something to find success, and the TV versions of Abbi and Ilana are exercising their finest option: Fake it till you make it. For the real Abbi and Ilana though, they've already arrived.

Here's a sketch cut after SNL's dress rehearsal this past weekend in which host Louis C.K. plays an asexual alien named Zartag who escapes his crystal prison then makes some evil-sounding demands of a spaceship crew, only to expose his love for posters of hunky Earth guys and their "cool, fun vibe."

After telling Conan about the time he drunkenly met Scarlett Johansson, Hannibal Buress went on to give the perfect explanation why he tweeted out to his followers earlier this month that Comedy Central had picked up his show Unemployable, even though they have yet to do so: "I didn't make it up, I just kinda put my dreams out into the world." Hopefully after the show actually gets picked up, Buress's technique of tweeting something into existence will be an inspiration to many comedians out there hoping to get a show of their own.

You've probably seen instances of knolling without knowing there was a word for it. Knolling at the Apple Store:

Knolling the contents of your bag:

Knolling a recipe for a book:

Knolling the parts of a machine:

Knolling is the practice of organizing objects in parallel or at 90° angles. The term has been popularized by artist Tom Sachs; he picked it up from Andrew Kromelow when both were working at Frank Gehry's furniture fabrication shop. Gehry was designing chairs for furniture company Knoll, and Kromelow would arrange unused tools in a manner similar to Knoll furniture. Hence, knolling.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is Wes Anderson's most design-y film, and that's really saying something. Typography is present in almost every frame; at times, it was almost oppressive. Creative Review interviewed designer Annie Atkins, who was responsible for the film's graphic design elements.

Oh my goodness, so many signs in the 1960s hotel lobby! I have to give credit to Liliana for this work, as she took care of nearly all of these. She had three sign-writers from Berlin painting non-stop for a week to get them all done in time for our first day of shoot, as that set was first up. Wes and Adam had seen so many examples of quite officious signage in what had been communist East Germany -- don't do this, don't do that, do this but only like that! The signs really added to the claustrophobic feeling of that set, and Wes had asked for them all to be black with simple white hand-painted lettering -- based on the style of the old sign at Yorckstrasse subway station in Berlin.

Buncha Game of Thrones Charts

Here are two preview clips from Hannibal Buress's new Comedy Central standup special, Live from Chicago, which debuts on Comedy Central Saturday, March 29th, at midnight, and will be available on the 24th via CC: Stand-Up Direct. In the first clip (above), he talks about saying he's Donald Glover in order to get into an Eddie Griffin show in Las Vegas for free, and in the second clip (below), he tells a story about an ecstasy trip.

Moody as shiiiit new track by FAT CREEPS has escaped into the atmosphere. I’ve really been enjoying the direction that I’ve been hearing and seeing this trio of Somerville CREEPS head into for a good long while now. To these ears that direction has been all about darker chords, melodies, and general approach bending to the established dead eyed stare countenance of the up front female duo of Mariam and Gracie. DIY staple label GNAR TAPES is releasing a new FAT CREEPS album sometime this spring (spring has sprung people) and that moody as shit track mentioned above will be found on it. “He Comes In Loudly” is the name of the cool, at times bordering on dissonance, but never giving over to it, track. Pounding drums and bass ground the jangling guitars that trade off with the indifferent sounding lead vocals, and rich backing vocals. Seems like the band will have some new videos up their sleeve to go along with this new release as well. A FAT CREEPS spring? It would certainly appear that way. Look out for what they got to give you.

The post FAT CREEPS – “He Comes In Loudly” appeared first on The Boston Hassle.

Here's the newest installment of Between Two Ferns that Funny or Die released today, which features President Obama trying to plug healthcare.gov while taking in all kinds of question topics from Zach Galifianakis, from pardoning turkeys to same-sex divorce to spider bites to birth certificates to what he plans to do with the whole North Ikea situation. Obama also shares some strong opinions about Bradley Cooper and the Hangover movies.

While promoting his new standup mixtape Bitchface, comedian and Parks and Rec writer Joe Mande went on Reddit, and instead of doing an "Ask Me Anything," he did an "Ask Me Nothing" where he encouraged people to not ask questions and refused to answer questions if he got them.

Check out a collection of the best non-responses below:

UPDATE: Tyler was charged with a Class A Misdemeanor and released on $25,000 bail. He’s since spoken out on Twitter about the incident…

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Here's the trailer for a porn parody of Jerry Seinfeld's web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, aptly titled Comedians in Cars Getting SEX. Directed by porn parody king Lee Roy Myers (responsible for the Simpsons porn parody, the Seinfeld porn parody, and dozens more), Comedians in Cars Getting SEX stars porn actors as Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman, driving around in a truck and having sex in the back seat.

(via Death and Taxes)

It looks like NBC brass have figured out a way to take full advantage of Jimmy Fallon's stellar ratings over on the new Tonight Show, if the following rumor is true. TMZ reports that NBC is allegedly pressuring celebrities who want to be on The Tonight Show against appearing on other networks' late night talk shows and even morning shows as well, the only exception being NBC shows like Dateline, Today, and Late Night: "They put the word out to celebs, agents and publicists … if they want to be on Fallon they can't appear on ANY other network … and not just shows that go head-to-head with Jimmy, but morning shows as well." A source from Good Morning America claimed that they've already gotten fallout from recent Tonight Show guests they attempted to book, so the rumored plan is already in motion. Fallon's ratings have blown Leno's entire era out of the water, and The Tonight Show currently brings in two times the amount of viewers as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but if NBC is really threatening celebrities and their publicists against going on any other show, those numbers might end up inflating even more over the next few months.

People had assumed that the name of the secretive creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, was a pseudonym designed to protect his anonymity. Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman tracked down a man who could be the Bitcoin founder and discovered that his real name is...Satoshi Nakamoto.

Two police officers from the Temple City, Calif., sheriff's department flank him, looking puzzled. "So, what is it you want to ask this man about?" one of them asks me. "He thinks if he talks to you he's going to get into trouble."

"I don't think he's in any trouble," I say. "I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto."

"What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he's living a pretty humble life."

I'd come here to try to find out more about Nakamoto and his humble life. It seemed ludicrous that the man credited with inventing Bitcoin - the world's most wildly successful digital currency, with transactions of nearly $500 million a day at its peak - would retreat to Los Angeles's San Bernardino foothills, hole up in the family home and leave his estimated $400 million of Bitcoin riches untouched. It seemed similarly implausible that Nakamoto's first response to my knocking at his door would be to call the cops. Now face to face, with two police officers as witnesses, Nakamoto's responses to my questions about Bitcoin were careful but revealing.

Tacitly acknowledging his role in the Bitcoin project, he looks down, staring at the pavement and categorically refuses to answer questions.

"I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," he says, dismissing all further queries with a swat of his left hand. "It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."

Nice bit of sleuthing by Goodman. But given the interest around Bitcoin, it's amazing that it took this long, even with Nakamoto's first name change.

Update: The subject of Newsweek's story now denies he was the creator of Bitcoin.

Tina Fey and Robert Carlock are filling out the cast for Tooken, the new NBC sitcom they created that's been given a 13-episode order for the fall. Deadline reports that the show has added to its cast Tituss Burgess, who recurred on 30 Rock as D'Fwan, the flamboyant member of Tracy Jordan's wife's entourage. Burgess is the second actor to be added to the show since Ellie Kemper, who plays its lead.

Fey and Carlock will serve as showrunners on Tooken, which follows a woman named Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) who escapes from a doomsday cult and tries to start over having a normal life in New York City. Tituss Burgess plays Titus, a gay singer who Kimmy becomes roommates with. The character has never made it to Broadway and works as a robot in Times Square but is re-energized and filled with hope when he meets Kimmy. In addition to Tooken, Fey and Carlock are producing the comedy pilot Cabot College for Fox, which is in contention for the fall.

It was probably about an hour into LCD Soundsystem’s epic, nearly four-hour final show at Madison Square Garden that it occurred to me: If this were ever released as a live album, it could be the greatest of my generation. It was our Live At Leeds, our Last Waltz, our Stop Making Sense. It was a chance for thousands to say, “I was there,” the last time anyone might ever hear James Murphy shout, “I was there.” It had everything: the perfect opener in “Dance Yourself Clean,” Arcade Fire singing on “North American Scum,” a full performance of “45:33″ with Reggie Watts, horns, string, and a choir, all leading up to the closing finality of “New York I Love You…” as thousands of white balloons rained down. Three years later I still have one of those balloons, now deflated, sitting on my bedside table. So finally this Record Store Day the legendary concert, the one that sold out Madison Square Garden in about five minutes, will be available in a completely uncut and long-overdue physical release. Produced and mixed by James Murphy, The Long Goodbye: LCD Soundsystem Live At Madison Square Garden will be out that day in a special vinyl box set, followed by a wide release on other formats. You can now watch a clip of them performing “Losing My Edge” below and check out the 38-song tracklist.

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A US Map Of The Greatest Musical Artist From Each State

In addition to being a 30 Rock writer, Hannibal Buress had the distinct honor of getting to play the show's trademark homeless guy and was behind some of 30 Rock's most bizarrely hilarious blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments. Though no homeless 30 Rock character will ever be as authentic as Moonvest, the above compilation of Hannibal's scenes has finally been created to give his performances the collective recognition they deserve. It also makes a great case for 30 Rock's devotion to making sure even the smallest details were as funny as possible.

During his standup set on last night's Tonight Show, Hannibal Buress explored the weird and wonderful world of New Orleans, where you can order drinks to go and police officers take time out of their day to assist you with your five-man bachelor party parade. Hannibal Time sounds pretty addictive.

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack's romantic comedy pilot is beginning to round out its cast. EW has confirmed that Cristin Milioti, who plays the titular character on CBS's How I Met Your Mother, has signed on to play one of the two lead roles in the single-cam pilot A to Z. Milioti will play Zelda, "a lawyer at a small public-advocacy firm who is known for her 'realist' outlook on life … Alternately serious and hilarious, Zelda loves being a grown-up and doesn’t understand why anyone over 20 would go see an animated movie or eat ice cream sundaes. Destiny and fate are not in her vocabulary; she believes she controls her own destiny.” A to Z will follow Milioti's character as her relationship with a man named Andrew evolves from the moment they initially meet to their breakup. The role of Andrew has not yet been cast.

While they still represent a small overall number, the popularity in the US of naming children after guns (Colt, Remington, Ruger, Gunner, Beretta) is up in recent years.

In 2002, only 194 babies were named Colt, while in 2012 there were 955. Just 185 babies were given the name Remington in 2002, but by 2012 the number had jumped to 666. Perhaps the most surprising of all, however, is a jump in the name Ruger's (America's leading firearm manufacturer) from just 23 in 2002 to 118 in 2012. "This name [Ruger] is more evidence of parents' increasing interest in naming children after firearms," Wattenberg writes. "Colt, Remington, and Gauge have all soared, and Gunner is much more common than the traditional name Gunnar."

It's been almost a year since we last spoke with UCB alums Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson about their hit web series Broad City getting picked up by Comedy Central and executive produced by Amy Poehler. Since then, Glazer and Jacobson have completed the first season of what's sure to be Comedy Central's next big show thanks to the duo's onscreen chemistry, comedic rhythm, and honesty in their day-in-the-life portrayal of two young New York ladies whose only solace from crappy low-paying day jobs, unhinged sexual partners, and moochy roommates' boyfriends is each other. Ahead of tomorrow's 10:30PM premiere, we had a brief chat with Glazer and Jacobson about adapting a web series for television, what Amy Poehler's like as a producer, and their current recommendations for funny up-and-coming web series.

What's the biggest difference in how you approached Broad City the show vs. Broad City the web series?

Ilana: Going to TV meant including a lot of other people, and we had to really cull not only the people who were part of our world, but what part of them were most Broad City – to get the most Broad City type stories for writers or the most Broad City-like editing or performance from an actor. It became this thing of Abbi and I meeting in the middle designing the Broad City voices, channeling the Broad inside of all these other people who came on to the project.

How did you balance the quicker comedy from the web series to the larger structure of the TV series format?

Abbi: I think the way we tried to approach that was that obviously the comedy is the most important part, but it also comes through in the realness and groundedness of the show. So we're trying to use situations from things that have happened to us or friends of ours, and so you focus on that feeling or that situation and then the comedy comes from that.

Ilana: Also it's like the three acts of producing this show — writing, shooting, editing — it calls for a different kind of funny. In writing you want to be funny in the office and inspired in the writer's room, and you want to carry that over into your performance. Editing is more like this mental puzzle — it's more about adaptivity. And with Abbi and I having each other, it's kind of like the burden is split in half. It's so inherently collaborative because it's two people as creators or protagonists, and I think that's something that lightens things and lifts the mood.

How much did Amy Poehler guide you along the way as a producer?

Abbi: Amy was on every notes call for all the scripts, she directed the finale episode and gives feedback on every episode, whether it's in the writing period or editing period.

Ilana: She also from the very beginning has provided this core vision of the show in the sense of the TV show as a project, and she came on to it when it was still a web series. The brand, the image, the message — she's always brought in this big-picture influence that really challenges us to grow into our perspectives in that way. And we're so up inside of this thing, it's helpful to see somebody be a step back and see it in her hands.

What writers did you bring on for the Comedy Central series?

Abbi: We had four other writers — one of those writers is a two-person team, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, and then we also had Chris Kelly, Tami Sagher, and then more recently Eric Slovin has come aboard. Paul W. Downs plays Trey, Abbi's boss at Solstice, and Lucia directed four episodes including the pilot.

I loved Fred Armisen's appearance in the pilot. Who else shows up this season?

Abbi: Amy [Poehler] is in an episode, and Amy Sedaris is in an episode which was absolutely amazing. Jason Mantzoukas, Matt Jones, Seth Morris from Funny Or Die, Janeane Garofalo, Michelle Hurst from Orange Is the New Black, and Rachel Dratch. And we have a lot of recurring roles like Hannibal Burress, John Gemberling who is unbelievably talented, Arturo Castro, Paul Downs, Chris Gethard, and Peter Schneider.

On top of having some bigger comedy names, was bringing in more up-and-coming talent important to you?

Abbi: That was a huge priority for us. I'm happy that you brought that up because we're sitting in the editing room, and we're editing a scene right now with this guy Jonathan Marballi from UCB and Shannon O'Neill — there's a lot of people from the New York comedy community, which is very exciting for us.

What are some web series that you recommend?

Abbi: One's actually from one of our friends at the UCB, this guy Don Fanelli, he's done at least two of these videos where he's auditioning for stuff, and you know how you can distort and mess with your face on Photo Booth? These videos are so funny. He made a mock SNL audition tape and did characters and it's so good. I really like his stuff right now. He has another web series with Laura Willcox called "Trying."

Ilana: One is my brother, who is also a comedian, he's been making this series called Haunting Renditions, and he sings covers of these songs that are so good it's creepy, like douchechilling. It's really good and directed by TJ Misny who we worked with and is a straight-up visionary. Also anything that Dan Klein, Kelly Hudson, and Arthur Meyers put out I'm a huge fan of. What else… Teen Wheels, Rejected Pitches…also, Dan Klein did another series called Fruit Reviews that is so awesome and cute. Another one is The Pursuit of Sexiness created by and starring Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata — they just did a good job, it's packaged well and they feature so many awesome talented people from our community, so it's exciting.

Comedy Central has been adding a lot of awesome talent lately, and there seems to be a bigger push toward sketch comedy than ever with shows like Inside Amy Schumer and Kroll Show. How's it feel to be part of that?

Ilana: Comedy Central has been killing it in the past couple of years. They really are one of the best — my favorite example for cable being nuanced, intricate, and fucking amazing. I mean their curation has been amazing, and each show has such well-rounded content within it. I think a lot of networks might not do well because they don't take enough risks with shows. I feel right now especially that Comedy Central is taking a lot of risks, and that's paying off.

Broad City premieres tomorrow at 10:00PM on Comedy Central.

Last year I spent three hours researching the “Four Tet is Burial” hoax before realizing the tip I was working off came from a satire site. I felt dumb then and feel dumb now admitting it, but the truth is, if you squint hard enough and go down the wormhole, it wasn’t the craziest theory. It’s been part of the Burial mystique since Day One. But today, the man behind Burial has revealed his identity: and it is, as we’ve been told, one William Bevan (yep, this dude). That’s Occam’s Razor for ya. Bevan posted a selfie (above) and a short note on Hyperdub’s site earlier today to thank his fans and label and presumably to end the runaround once and for all. As long as he’s still making incredible music, I’m just as happy knowing who he is as I am being completely in the dark. Read his note below.

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No one can solve this. Not Ken Jennings. Not Marilyn vos Savant. Not Alan Turing. Not Ada Lovelace. Not Watson. Not even Richard Feynman. (Ok, maybe Feynman.)

(via @lhl)

Update: Here's the answer to the puzzle, presumably by some time traveling super-being from the future. (via @grimmelm)

The Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul is beginning to round out its cast. According to Variety, Jonathan Banks has been cast alongside Bob Odenkirk as a regular on the series. Banks played Saul's private investigator Michael "Mike" Ehrmantraut on Breaking Bad, so he'll reprise the role for the prequel and be on hand to clean up all Saul's messes. Banks and Odenkirk are so far the only announced cast members for Better Call Saul, which is set to premiere on AMC this November.