Comedy

A few months ago, critic David Bianculli identified five shows to follow this season. Of them, he says "Sports Night" is the best.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews tonight's debut of the CBS sitcom "Payne". It was inspired by the British hit "Fawlty Towers."

TV critic David Bianculli previews this Sunday night's debut of Matt Groening's "Futurama." Groening is the creator of "The Simpsons."

TV critic David Bianculli previews "Action" the controversial new show that premieres on the FOX network tonight.

Saturday Night Live celebrates its silver anniversary this Sunday, with a prime time special. Fresh Air's TV critic David Bianculli has a review.

Actress Amy Sedaris. She’s the star of the comedy series “Strangers With Candy” that airs Monday and Saturday nights on Comedy Central. Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a 47-year old ex-con, ex-prostitute lesbian high school freshman. She’s the sister of David Sedaris, a humor writer who has been on Fresh Air several times. Amy and David have produced and written several plays together, including the 1996 Obie award winning “One Woman Shoe.”

TV critic David Bianculli reviews two new Fox comedies: Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Greg the Bunny.

Comedian Dave Attell . He*s the host of Comedy Central*s Insomniac with Dave Attell. It airs Wednesday nights at 10:30 pm. Attell explores American after-hours culture, traveling to many cities to film his show.

Stand-up comic David Cross co-created the 1995 HBO cult hit Mr. Show (an amalgam of live sketch video pieces and occasional animation). He also wrote for the short-lived Ben Stiller Show. One reviewer writes of his act, "foul mouthed and razor sharp, doesn't shy away from vicious social criticism and outright political dissent."

Late night talk show host Conan O'Brien celebrates ten years on the air Sunday September 14, 2003, with a primetime special on NBC. In 1993, he moved into the Late Night host slot when David Letterman went to CBS. Prior to Late Night, O'Brien was a writer for Saturday Night Live and writer and producer for The Simpsons.

Actor Zach Braff talks about the TV comedy he stars in, Scrubs. Braff wrote and directed the feature film Garden State, which opened in theaters over the summer to critical acclaim. We also speak with the creator of Scrubs, producer Bill Lawrence.

Lisa Kudrow (Friends) stars in and executive producer Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) created the new HBO comedy series The Comeback. It's a mock reality show that follows the career of a celebrity desperate to return to the spotlight.

Since 1999, Mariska Hargitay has played a police detective specializing in sex crimes on the NBC drama, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Henry Winkler plays a doctor on the new CBS sitcom Out of Practice, which premiered last month and can be seen Mondays at 9:30 p.m. Winkler also spent two seasons playing a lawyer on the TV series Arrested Development.

Come up with a list of the dream writing jobs in comedy and at least three of them are likely to come up on one man's resume: Ben Karlin is executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and co-executive producer of The Colbert Report, both on the cable channel Comedy Central. Before that, Karlin was editor of the satirical weekly newspaper The Onion.

Film critic David Bianculli reviews 30 Rock the new NBC sitcom created by and starring Tina Fey, former head writer and "Weekend Update" anchor on Saturday Night Live. It's the second NBC show about a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional late-night live variety show.