Comedy

Steve O'Donnell, the head writer for Late Night with David Letterman, writes many of the program's top ten lists. A new book compiles the best of these, called, simply, The Late Night with David Letterman Book of Top Ten Lists.

Rather than spend minutes setting up elaborate jokes, Wright comedian delivers one-liners in a deadpan, stoic manner. He has a new HBO comedy special coming up, and also appears in movies. Wright won an Academy Award for the short the Appointments of Dennis Jennings.

Since 1987, Maya has been performing his one-man show at clubs and performance spaces, mostly around New York. His style of observational humor focuses on his suburbia, current events, and gay politics. Maya came out publicly this year; he believes its important to emphasize his identity in his act to boost representation of gay people in popular culture.

In anticipation of the new season, networks have been trying to one-up with each other with pilots of new shows. TV critic David Bianculli says NBC's Parenthood is the best of the bunch, while Hull High can't compete.

Davidson's act earned him a spot on the sketch comedy show In Living Color, starring the Wayans brothers. He grew up in Washington, DC and began performing at a topless club. Davidson's comedy special will soon air on the Showtime network.

Actor, writer, and Monthy Python member John Cleese and therapist Robin Skynner. The pair have co-written a new book, "Families and How To Survive Them."

Comedian Dave Thomas. Thomas first hit it big as a member of the "SCTV" comedy series. He currently has a summer-replacement comedy variety show on CBS, called "The Dave Thomas Comedy Show."

Stand-up comic Jimmy Tingle.

Comic George Carlin.

Critic Laurie Stone reviews stand-up comic Margaret Smith.

Comedian David Brenner. He's written a new book about the pitfalls of traveling.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews "The Dave Thomas Comedy Show."

Book critic John Leonard reviews Barbara Ehrenreich's new collection of essays, "The Worst Years of Our Life."

Critic Laurie Stone comments on two newsworthy comedy events from last weekend--comic Andrew Dice Clay's controversial appearance on Saturday Night Live, and the Comedy Relief special on HBO.

Comic Mike Myers. He's the newest member of Saturday Night Live, where he's created the characters and sketches for "Wayne's World" and "Sprockets." Myers began his career at Second City in Toronto.

Critic Laurie Stone reviews the work of impressionist Louise DuArt. On her recent Showtime special, DuArt portrayed everyone from Cher to Barbara Walters, Woody Allen to Doctor Ruth.

Actor, comedian, filmmaker, and author Michael Palin. In the fall of 1988, Palin set out to recreate the journey Jules Verne described in "Around the World in 80 Days." Palin circled the globe by using just about every means of transportation except airplane (since that wasn't available in Verne's time). Palin turned his journey into an 8-part TV BBC series (it aired in this country on the A&E network) and a book that's a bestseller in England.

Critic Laurie Stone reviews British performer and clown Geoff Hoyle. In his solo piece, "Feast of Fools," Hoyke uses physical and verbal comedy to portray a series of caricatures. Though Hoyle has training in classical theatre and mime, STONE says his performance is anything but refined. Hoyle is performing "Feast of Fools," in New York.

Comedian Imogene Coca. Coca is a television legend, co-starring with Sid Caeser on the groundbreaking comedy series, "Your Show of Shows," in the 1950s. Since then, Coca's had numerous roles on TV, on stage, and in movies. Imogene Coca is teeming up with Sid Caesar once again, for a series of appearances at Michael's Pub in New York City, beginning April 17th.

Television critic David Bianculli previews three new shows, coming up this week on each network. They are: "Bagdad Café," "Equal Justice," and "Carol & Co." (with Carol Burnett).