Comedian Chris Hardwick is building a nerd empire. It began with his podcast, “The Nerdist,” which ballooned into a podcasting network that now includes 17 different shows...

Hollywood has a problem with comedy sequels: It can’t seem to stop making them. Last week Warner Bros. announced that “The Hangover Part III” would hit theaters on May 2...

While I’m as excited as anyone for the return of “Mad Men” Sunday on AMC, I’m not sure I’m ready for Jon Hamm to start playing serious again. In the nearly 18 months...

Merriam-Webster defines silly as “exhibiting or indicative of a lack of common sense or sound judgment,” which basically implies that silly is stupid. Silliness may come f...

Last week, the A.V. Club ran an essay that asked, “Are we nearing comedy podcast overload?” In it, writer Steve Heisler argues that, “for the good of comedy, people need...

Last week I made a pilgrimage to a comedy mecca: the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. Over the last decade, UCB has become the nation’s foremost breeding gro...

When Louis C.K. said he’d grossed more than $1 million off his self-released, $5 stand-up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” the question wasn’t “Would others fo...

Watching “Key and Peele,” Comedy Central’s latest attempt to replicate the success of “Chappelle’s Show,” I couldn’t help but think about how long it’s been si...

I never planned on visiting “Cougar Town.” When the series premiered in 2009, the idea of a sitcom about Courteney Cox chasing younger men had all the appeal of watching J...

Some of the best comedy comes in small packages. Whether it’s a “Saturday Night Live” skit or that joke you tell all your friends, humor is often most effective when kep...

John Mulaney could be the next breakout star of “Saturday Night Live.” The only problem: Most people who watch “SNL” don’t know who John Mulaney is. A writer for the...

Stephen Colbert might run for president. But is this just another publicity stunt, or is Colbert really going to be on the ballot? It doesn’t matter. Colbert is exposing the...

When IFC changed its slogan to “Always On. Slightly Off.” in 2010, it signaled the network’s transition from movie channel to home of quirky, underappreciated comedy ser...

Comedian Billy Eichner is a game show host for the Twitter generation. On “Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street,” (Fuse, Thursdays, 11 p.m.), the Upright Citizens Brigade ...

Louis C.K. was already my favorite thing about comedy in 2011. Had there been any doubt, though, Dec. 10 would have settled it. That Saturday, he started selling his fourth st...