Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

OK, so I'm not really watching Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.; I tried to watch Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..

It's on right now, and I'd missed this 1998 made-for-TV movie when it first premiered, and its subsequent airings since.

A caught it just as it started today, and since it seemed fortuitous, thought I'd watch the whole deal for my "absorb-all-things-comic-book" shtick, and ... I can't do it.

Sweet mercy, who let this thing air?

Don't get me wrong; despite the multiple popular media jokes around David Hasselhoff, I'm incredibly impressed with his long-standing, solid, and ongoing career. Besides, he seems like a genuinely engaging person in various interviews and guest appearances, and takes his (arguably undeserved) lumps in stride and in good humor.

But this film blows. It takes a cool Marvel staple and makes it a cartoon (in a bad way), rips off a bunch of coventions, and parlays so many performance stereotypes (like "third-wheel-nervous-guy-who-comes-through-in-clutch-time") to no effect.

And to think the first Fantastic Four movie targeted for direct-to-video was so bad they didn't let it go live. Looking at this S.H.I.E.L.D. fiasco, I so want to watch and MST3K that film other.

Here's hoping the new S.H.I.E.L.D. film off of Marvel's recent licensing deals doesn't suck even half this much.

Sitdown Comedy with David Steinbert (John Lovitz)

I just watched John Lovitz on TVLand's new series Sitdown Comedy with David Steinbert.

I wondered what happend to John Lovitz, who's 2002 to 2005 was a bit quiet, but with Bailey's Billion$, The Producers, The Benchwarmers, and Southland Tales in the works, maybe he's back in the game.

He had some interesting things to say about comedy and his process, like drama being from the heart, and comedy from the head, and you still do the drama, and layer the head stuff on top. He said you as an actor should know if the comedy is funny, but the character should be oblivious. Not sure how that works, but I think I'm going to try playing with it a bit.

He also talked about writing out Woody Allen's standup routines on index cards, highlighting words for diction and comedic timing. I hadn't thought of trying that (I figure if I can pull it off believably with with Eddie Murphey's Raw, I should be golden).

Sitdown Comedy with David Steinbert (Mike Myers)

Just coincidently after watching Mike Myers on Inside the Actors Studio, I caught him on TVLand's new series Sitdown Comedy with David Steinbert.

There was some retread from ItAS, but it's Mike Myers -- so it was still brilliant and insightful.

Oh, and you should check out the website for Sitdown Comedy with David Steinbert -- you can watch full episodes online, including interviews with Larry David, Bob Newhart, Martin Short, John Lovitz, and George Lopez.

Inside the Actors Studio: Mike Myers

I re-watched Inside the Actors Studio with Mike Myers, and was, yet again, impressed and inspired.

Besides his memorable characters from his Saturday Night Live run, Myers is such a prolific writer, with big-successes like Wayne's World (and its sequel), Austin Powers (and its sequels) written in a stunningly short few weeks to few months.

Best advice I got from the interview? Two-fold:

• Go-after-it-tenacity -- They guy makes sweeping comments like, "I'm going to be on Saturday Night Live", and makes it happen.
• The intellect and acting -- Myers says intellect and workshop skills and things of the mind are for when you're stuck. When you're not stuck, you don't need them if you're truly in the moment ...

And So I Married an Axe Murderer is one of the most under-rated comedic flicks (with one of my favorite movie soundtracks).

Red vs. Blue

I just re-watched the first 30 episodes of Red Vs. Blue.

Turns out laughing this hard (again) is probably not what a doctor would order for a guy diagnosed with bronchitis -- but it's worth it.

If you're not familiar with the Red Vs. Blue machinima videos, go, check it out, laugh heartily (especially if you're a Halo fan).

No, I'm no way affiliated with these Austin guys. But maybe while you're on the site you can sign up for a sponsorship (only $10 per season gets you access to hi-rez videos and spencial "sponsor-only content").

Hey, and if a bunch of you do get sponsorships, they might actually make enough money to pay me to be their mouthpiece ...