February 9, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“comedy”
12/01/11
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High and Tight

Coming to America: A Grooming Montage

Alert the rose-bearers and shake up your Soul Glo: today we celebrate one of the most iconic men’s grooming movies of all time: Coming to America.

The year was 1988 and, similar to The Cosby Show on TV, for the first time a predominantly African-American film was accessible to—and beloved by—young white adolescents.

Grooming had a lot to do with that: black people’s hair was different than white people’s hair, and it was okay to laugh at that. Black barbers were imposing forces who didn’t actually cut people’s hair, and it was okay to laugh at that. Topless women manually cleaned the genitals of African princes, and… well, every kid in America wished he had a royal penis.

Watch every crucial grooming moment in Coming to America»
 

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11/02/11
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LinkOut

She Does Not Care for Your Nonsmoking Section

smokingvia Proper Magazine

Still Delirious: Eddie Murphy gave Rolling Stone a rare interview, talking Oscars, SNL and stand-up. Sadly, it’s not online, but you can see some highlights here. [Rolling Stone]

Illinois’s Finest: A spotlight on Chicago boutique Sir & Madame. But mostly Sir. [Well Spent]

Carrying Water: As a bid to save water, Levi’s is asking you not to wash your jeans. We’ll see if your girlfriend agrees. [NYTimes]

An Inside Pitch: Responding to a world of generic menswear pitches, Derek Guy has created the menswear Mad Lib. See it in action here. [Put This On]

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10/28/11
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This Sporting Life

Over: The Fat Lady (And Anyone Else) Singing ‘God Bless America’ At Baseball Games

We love our country, but we loathe “God Bless America.”

More specifically, we are vehemently opposed to the compulsory singing of the patriotic anthem 1918 showtune from Yip Yip Yaphank! at baseball games. (Yes, “God Bless America” is a showtune, and one that its author, Irving Berlin, cut from Yip! after two performances because he disliked it so much.)

Nearly a century later, we dislike it so much, too…»
 

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03/28/11
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LinkOut

Ragnhild Jevne is Befriending Sloths

ragnehildjevne_crop.jpgvia Fashion Copious

The Bostonians: A guided tour of Bobby From Boston. [OMS Originals]

Meet the Beatles: A trove of new Beatles photos just made their way to the public—and these ten just made their way to the web. [Flavorwire]

Playing Rough: Some days, you need a flash drive that can survive being run over by a car. [TechCrunch]

The Old Ways: Dusting off the multi-camera sitcom. [Splitsider]

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11/23/10
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Well-Dressed Comedian

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As connoisseurs of history, we sometimes find styles, trends and turns of phrase from the past that we wouldn’t mind bringing back to the present, Doc Brown-style. This time around, we’re dusting off the well-dressed comedian.

Ladies and gentlemen, this man is a comedian.

Hard to believe, we know, but once upon a time, this was the uniform for a successful stand-up, right down to the skinny tie and the pocket square. If you had the money, you spent it on a first-class suit and then you traveled from town to town looking like you owned the train. (A trade secret: Puns always sound funnier if the guy telling them is dressed like a senator.)

It’s a professional custom we’d like to dust off…

Allow us to elaborate»

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11/03/10
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Sound & Vision

Let’s Go On With the Show

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Comedy nerds have had it pretty good the past few years, but it’s not like all the recent brilliance came out of nowhere. A lot of those dark comedies and unhinged workplace sitcoms can be traced back to a single glorious run in the early 90s—a run that’s making its way to DVD this week.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Larry Sanders Show.

But wait, there’s so much more…»

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09/29/10
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Sound & Vision

The Future of Comedy

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Through the right eyes, the comic regions of the internet can look a lot like a variety show—so a pair of Ed Sullivan vets should fit right in.

They might look familiar…»

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04/06/10
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Sound & Vision

MTV’s Glory Days

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You might not remember, but MTV was once a pretty exciting place. (We’re a little foggy on it ourselves.) Something about the convergence of grunge, the first flush of cable and the timeless rock-star cool made for one of the more exciting spots on TV. But we’re pretty sure they still had cubicles.

This short from The State sums it up quite nicely, and after their spectacular flameout on the network, they should know better than almost anyone. They’ve been dropping vintage video clips onto their Vimeo page all week to promote their newly dropped DVD, but nothing sums up the flightly hipness and frustration better than the sketch that starts halfway through. Just skip through until you see the intern chuckling nervously, too worried to say what he really thinks of his boss.

Naturally, it never found its way onto MTV’s site…

See the short»

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07/14/09
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Sound & Vision

The State is the Greatest Human Achievement

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We’ve gushed about this before, but we thought you might be due for a reminder. Starting today, the entire televised output of The State will be available on DVD, just in time for Bastille Day.

It’s a very conceptual breed of comedy, but the familiar faces (if not names) and cred factor should make it worth picking up even if you aren’t a comedy nerd. And the appeal of $240 worth of pudding is pretty much universal.

After the jump, The Bearded Men of Space Station 11!!!»

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04/20/09
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Sound & Vision

The Health of the State

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It looks like the 90s comedy troupe The State is finally getting the DVD treatment. Of course, it’s been a long time coming, especially given the original series cult status and the long, long string of projects State members have done in the years since the show was canceled—including (deep breath) Reno 911, Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Wainy Days, The Baxter, The Ten, Role Models, and the unrecognized masterpiece Herbie Fully Loaded.

See the DVD trailer, and a few of the better sketches»

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03/25/09
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LinkOut

Double Dutch, Comedians’ Comedians, and the Dangers of Pink

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Girl from the Low Countries: For posterity’s sake: the definitive guide to Dutch women. [YesButNoButYes]

Some Kind of Comedian: The top ten comedians according to other comedians. We don’t know how Dane Cook missed this one. [Vulture]

Like Red but Not Quite: Nick Sullivan ponders the joys and dangers of the pinkish hue. We prefer “salmon” ourselves. [Esquire]

Gone Beggin’: Our new favorite Thom may be having some financial difficulties. He can always fall back on his acting career… [The Cut]

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03/18/09
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Across the Sea

The International Tramp

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We’ve always held Charlie Chaplin in high esteem—if only as an early aficionado of the bowler hat—so we were surprised to find the tramp as the subject of some belated controversy in India.

Chaplin’s already the subject of twelve different statues throughout the world, but when Indian filmmaker Hemanth Hegde tried to erect a thirteenth statue at Maravanthe Beach for an upcoming film, he provoked furious protests from crowds that saw the tramp as a symbol of the colonial legacy of oppression.

In our capacity as international moderators, we have a suggestion»

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03/12/09
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Sound & Vision

Canned Hamm

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It’s been a while since the last Mad Men episode, so we’re looking for we’d almost forgotten how much we like Jon Hamm. Luckily, he reminded us.

This Funny or Die clip showcases Mr. Draper’s comedy chops, taking on the role of a bailout-seeking Lex Luthor. Naturally, it requires him to trade his usual pomade-heavy coiffure for a bald wig, and the suit isn’t up to his usual standard, but we’re ready to be pitched just about anything at this point.

And as bailout seekers go, we still like him more than John Thain.

See the video»

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