Shakespeare In The Alley

Great lineup. If I was anywhere near there, I'd go for TCV, Gorillaz, Sly, Jay-Z, Spoon, Thom Yorke, Casablancas, and probably others.

I like By Numbers because of the whininess. After these rock operas, and other generally huge chunks of tough guy rock, By Numbers is a nice step back. Except Slip Kid, which is full on tough guy rock.

Nope. I'm enjoying this record a lot, but a 7.8/that review are very fair.

These aren't really blasphemous at all. You're wrong about the Who and the Doors, but still. No blasphemy here.

This is so true. Quadrophenia and Tommy are both incredible, but Quadrophenia wins because of how untouchable Daltrey's vocals were in that era. And the Who By Numbers is criminally underrated. So many great songs on there. Again, Daltrey was on top of his game in these years. That being said, However Much I Booze might be the best song on Numbers.

Listened to Here. Reminded me a bit of an Of Montreal song. Not bad. Congrats on finishing all that.

Give me Cohen singing Hallelujah over any other version out there. It's his song, and he sings it best.

DNOTS is excellent. Probably my number two album last year. Damn shame it wasn't fully released.

His show really does seem more personal. He just seems like a great guy, who knows he doesn't always have to go out there and tell jokes. I think he's hilarious when he does joke around, but listening to him when he feels he needs to talk about things is wonderful too. Last night he talked about how sick of this stuff he is, especially given what's going on in Haiti. For lack of a better phrase, the dude keeps it real.

Love it. Mark Linkous is, in my opinion, one of the very best musicians out there.

When it comes to knowing when to drop the shtick, Letterman is great, but I think Craig Ferguson is better. There's a 12 minute video on youtube of one of his "monologues" where he talks about how he won't make fun of Britney Spears, then goes on to talk about his alcohol addiction, and how he tried to kill himself before he finally got sober. That, and his episodes where he just talks about his recently deceased parents, is powerful stuff.

Jesus, Lopez is terrible. For some reason I watched a clip of a recent monologue of his. Of course he tackled the NBC thing, but failed miserably. Case in point "the mexican has the best job security." He's tackling never before done topics with an edgy style, isn't he? I don't think Leno's a great "comedian" at all. He doesn't seem to have the improv abilities that the others have. His strength, if you'd call it that, is his pre-written monologue jokes. I've admittedly not seen much of his stand-up, but his interview segments lack the comedic back and forth that so many others hosts have.

It would sure make Letterman go out on a high note, and pretty much do it in the opposite way as the Letterman/Leno thing a while back. Conan will surface on some network, that's for sure. The awful thing, to me, is that Jimmy Fallon could become the next in line for the Tonight Show.

I think Leno's staff is aware that they won't be able to cling to Leno for their income forever. I don't know how loyal he is, and all that nonsense. But I don't think his writers/producers will suddenly be out on the streets if Leno is no longer on TV. And I don't think there's any chance of Letterman giving up his show now. After his sex scandal, and this whole deal, he's on a bit of a hot streak. And I just don't see it as likely that he'll give up his job, no matter how much sympathy he'll have for Conan.

Yea, I'm aware of all that. Even if it was set up, the whole idea made little sense for Leno. Unless he figured his reputation is already fucked, why not go with it?

Doesn't Jay say all the time how he still does stand up for basically free, just because he loves to do it? So even without a talk show, he's not leaving comedy.

If Conan brings Howard Stern out for one of his final shows, that will be hilarious. Stern has made it clear that he sides with Conan, and has always hated Leno. If Conan knows for sure he's out, then he's going to go down shooting. And I don't think the Kimmel thing was entirely scripted. Jay seemed really uncomfortable as the interview progressed, so I don't think he expected Kimmel to go for the jugular like he did. I think Leno expected jokes, but not as harsh as what Kimmel gave. And even so, what would Leno have to gain from Kimmel coming on his show, and calling him a monster repeated

I've never liked Kimmel before, but his Leno parody was great. Then he had the balls to bring the heat to Leno's own show via satellite, but still) and my respect for him jumped a mile. Great comedy.

Jimmy Kimmel absolutely destroyed Leno on his own show tonight. I have no idea why Jay went for that, but Kimmel went for it. He seemed restrained at first, then about halfway through he let loose and every question from Jay resulted in an insult. Jay stood there with no comebacks, looking foolish as hell.

So it seems it's a done deal, and Conan's last show will be the 22nd. If this is the truth, then the next week's worth of episodes are going to kick ass. If his past few shows are any indication, he's going out firing.

I still cringe at Leno taking shots at this situation, because of his role. Obviously no one here know all the behind the scenes stuff, but from what we know, Leno decided to retire, and now changed his mind. NBC is more or less trying to appease him. So what does Leno have to complain about?

This would be amazing.

They're comedians with a nightly forum to talk. Of course they're going to take shots at each other and NBC.