Saturday Night Live is opening its 36th season with alum Amy Poehler and too-hot-for-Sesame Street Katy Perry. But for us, as much as we love Poehler (Knope is dope!), the real reason to watch is because Governor Paterson will be appearing on a show that has relentlessly mocked his apparent incompetence, his drug use, his extramarital flings, his blindness, problems in his administration and much, much more. During his first appearance as Paterson, Fred Armisen said, "I'm a blind man who loves cocaine who was suddenly appointed governor of New York. My life is an actual plot from a Richard Pryor movie." more ›

At the end of a brutally hot summer filled with bedbugs, Mosque debates and cat fashion shows, The Onion reports that New Yorkers have finally realized that the city is "nothing more than a massive, trash-ridden hellhole that slowly sucks the life out of every one of its inhabitants:" more ›

A Bronx teen being arraigned in connection with the shooting of 15-year-old Vada Vasquez doesn't seem too penitent. Clivie Smith, one of the five thugs charged with the November shooting, plead not guilty. After the proceeding, the 19-year-old was being escorted from the courtroom when he spotted two of his friends. According to the New York Post he shouted "What up, man?" Then, pretending to be scared, he cried out "Daddy!" breaking the tension in the room, as onlookers erupted in laughter. It may not help his case, but the alleged ringleader of the incident sure likes to talk. Previously Smith told the Post the cops were "crooked, crooked, crooked." He added that being held at Rikers is "like having the worst migraine you can ever have." more ›

Governor David Paterson frequently uses humor to disarm his audiences (we were disarmed in September and he disarmed Stephen Colbert's crowd, too) but he made a splash with an important group of people last night: Members of the Gridiron Club, made up of Washington bureau chiefs of newspapers and networks. more ›

Governor Paterson used his trademark sense of humor during his opening remarks at the ServiceNation Summit last night. more ›

The NY Times looks at how Governor Paterson's uses of humor to disarm audiences. Many people attest to Paterson's timing and joke-telling. Two examples: A hilarious response at a National Press Club event earlier this month and his killer answer, right after the Spitzer scandal erupted, to a reporter's question about whether he ever patronized prostitutes. The Governor explained that he started to used humor as a child, because he was lonely and his "way of enjoying time, my way of finding the frivolity in situations.” He added, "I think that was my way of trying to relate to them. It was easier than saying, ‘Hi. I’m David Paterson, and I’m legally blind.’” more ›

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It’s not Tracy Letts’s fault that his play, August: Osage County, has been breathlessly overhyped by the critics, from the Times’s Charles Isherwood on down. It’s also not his fault that compared to many other Broadway spectacles the play stands out as a polestar of humor and intelligence. Still, it’s difficult to disassociate the play from the deafening buzz; August: Osage County is being heralded as an Important Theatrical Event, when it’s really just a well-crafted new play that happens to stand out among Broadway’s other lowbrow pygmies. (Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll is well acted but as affectless as it is thought-provoking; the current revival of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming is absolutely magnificent but, obviously, not the New American Drama critics lust after.) more ›

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. more ›

During the 80s golden era of Late Night With David Letterman, Chris Elliott was one of the people most responsible for the show's distinctively bizarre style. Playing characters like "The Guy Under the Seats" and "The Regulator Guy," Elliott's contributions were sometimes hilarious and sometimes baffling, but always memorable for their absolutely unadulterated weirdness. He went on to cultivate his peculiar "Chris Elliott" persona in cult classics like the TV show Get a Life and... more ›

In Charles Mee’s Queens Boulevard (the musical) the titular traffic artery is no longer the “boulevard of blood” notorious for hit-and-run collisions. In fact, there isn’t a drop of blood in Mee’s colorful fairytale, which takes as inspiration the centuries old dance-drama style of Hindu theater called kathakali, among other things. In Mee’s eyes, Queens Boulevard is the symbolic common thread connecting New York’s myriad ethnicities and cultures, with Queens as the proverbial melting pot... more ›

Oktoberfest has been over for quite sometime now, but that's never stopped us from enjoying good German beer and sausages. Which is exactly how we wound up at Austrian newcomer Cafe Katja last night. There's also something to be said for such hearty meat-laden fare as the mercury drops. And judging by how crowded the small dining room was when we left, a lot of New Yorkers felt the same way last night. While... more ›

Waiting for the 1, by jschumacher on Flickr more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) Four artists - Robert Adams, Mark Dion , Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Ursula von Rydingsvard – who explore the intersection between nature and culture. Billy Crystal: The Mark Twain Prize (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WLIW 21) Billy Crystal receives the tenth annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in... more ›

Scotland’s Black Watch is an elite military regiment whose history stretches back almost three centuries. The regiment most recently saw action as part of the British Army’s deployment in Iraq, where seven members lost their lives – five of the men in the space of 11 days in 2004. The National Theatre of Scotland tracked down some of the Black Watch soldiers upon their return to Scotland and, over the course of several months and countless pints of Guinness, playwright Gregory Burke got the men to open up about their experiences. The stories they told, as well as the way they told them, have been woven into a dazzling tapestry of warfare, as seen through the hardened eyes of this now-fading regiment. more ›

Not quite outdoing her husband's 60th birthday bash at the Beacon last year (which starred the Rolling Stones and was filmed by Martin Scorsese), Hillary Clinton entered a new age last night. Choosing the same venue to celebrate her 60th in, the music was provided by Elvis Costello and the Wallflowers (apparently no one from her campaign song list was available), and Billy Crystal provided some humor. The AP reports that she likened herself to the Wallflowers Jakob Dylan (perhaps not the best idea) saying that "no matter how much her family connections may have helped propel her candidacy, she ultimately will win or lose on her own." Maybe she'll have more success than Jakob. more ›

The Comedians of Comedy are performing at Irving Plaze on October 27th at 6 and 10:30 PM. Both shows will be hosted by Patton Oswalt, who will be joined by Brian Poshein, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney, and some yet to be announced special guests. Last year's surprises included performances by David Cross, Nick Swardson, Jon Benjamin, and Jon Glaser. With such a line up, the event is certainly a night not to be missed. Gothamist got a hold of Patton to get his opinion on some of his past roles, politics, and where he likes to eat when he's in town. more ›

. Gothamist spoke with Gary Rudoren, one of the authors of Comedy by the Numbers , to see if there were any hesitations about revealing what it takes to be as funny as the greats, which led to a philosophical inquiry on the nature of evil as well as Gary's plans to raise a pair of ultra-hilarious twins. more ›

New York City was amply represented during last night's National Design Awards at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. more ›

The video of City Councilman James Oddo letting the f-bombs drop on a Norwegian TV comedian is getting mixed reactions - and a fair number of chuckles - from New Yorkers, but now it turns out that he wasn't meant to be a poor sap duped into answering stupid questions about whether Barack Obama is an American citizen and "Hillary Clinton's incident with a cigar." more ›

is considered a classic. It contains recipes such as Blood Cake with Fried Eggs, Tripe Gratin, and Crispy Pig’s Tail. Stuff like that. This isn’t stunt eating, Fear Factor-style, nor is Henderson’s food supposed to be particularly innovative, but it is. The chef’s “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” approach to cooking simultaneously emphasizes frugality and simplicity. In some sense, that's almost unheard of these days. more ›

, an engrossing and greatly entertaining account of not just Fillmore's presidency, but also his life, travels, and observations of 19th century politics and social moirés. Alone, Pendle's work amounts to only small bites out of this great injustice; the real change comes when you devour this book. more ›

Obama Girl is back, not digging dudes with iPhones, and crushing on some U.S. soldiers. The latest video salutes the troops, and Ben Relles, creator of BarelyPolitical.com, says "this time, humor isn’t the primary goal. Our ambitions are a little bit higher and a little bit different. We wanted to do something that was honoring the troops but also honoring the wives and husbands and girlfriends." more ›

. From her days as a young girl in Long Island, trying to navigate her way through social circles while discovering boys, punk rock, and drugs, to her increasing addiction that eventually leads her to rehab and then sobriety, Arfin remains honest in her appraisal of the past while making sure to interject just the right amount of humor to make the whole thing work. more ›

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Isn't it sweet (or cliché) when you go to a baseball game and the jumbotron flashes a marriage proposal? It's such a nice personal event that the couple is sharing with thousands of other people. While we secretly hope that someone says no, this prank proposal at Yankee Stadium takes things to a whole new level. Some background: two College Humor guys have been engaged in a "Prank War" starting earlier this year. The cruelness of the pranks has escalated as they continue and this one might be the meanest one. more ›

Nigeria is a so-called “developing” country saddled with a corrupt government, crushing international debt, appalling slums, guerilla warfare, malaria, kidnappings, environmental disasters and an average life expectancy of 47. It’s not as bad as other African countries; of course that’s not saying much. If you’re like me, it’s a place that’s just not very high up on your list of vacation destinations. Thing is, we go there just about every time we fill up the gas tank. Nigeria is America’s fifth largest oil supplier; Shell, Chevron, Exxon, et al suck 2 million barrels of oil a day out of the Niger Delta. The black gold has enriched successive unsavory dictators (and now unsavory “elected” officials) for years while local tribes fight amongst themselves – and hold oil company employees hostage – to get a taste of the development spoils. more ›

Hardly content with his career as one of the most fascinating actors in the business today, John Turturro continues to make his mark as director of a growing catalog of boldly independent films. His searing debut, Mac, drew deeply from his experiences in a Brooklyn family cast adrift after their father’s death. Six years later, Turturro reveled in his love for theater with Illuminata, which Salon called “a heartbreakingly beautiful tragicomedy about art, love and artifice, with a script of rare humor and complexity.” Fast forward seven years to 2005, and, like clockwork, Turturro finished his most wildly imaginative project, Romance and Cigarettes, produced by the Coen brothers. Unfortunately, the Hollywood distribution system lacks Turturro’s regularity, and it’s taken another two years for this heartfelt and hilarious picture to appear in America. (A run at Film Forum begins tonight.) Gothamist recently spoke with Turturro about the film, the entertainment industry, and his hope to hatch a Big Lebowski spin-off with the Coens. more ›

When Ilan Hastor, a Jewish Israeli, wrote Masked in 1990, he was a left-leaning college student opposed to the occupation. But despite his personal politics, his widely-produced play avoids any dogmatic depiction of Palestinians as innocent victims and Israelis as ruthless oppressors. What concerned Hastor then was what made the anguish of Israel universal; how three brothers are inexorably reduced to brutes by the duress of occupation. Change the names and dialects and Masked could just as well be set in Algeria in the ‘50s, Warsaw in the ‘40s or Iraq today. more ›

(directed by Paul Greengrass) more ›