Comedy Central Insider Blog

Christian Finnegan said in an interview recently, "Claiming to be influenced by Louis C.K. is a lot like saying 'I like beer.'" Writing about Louis C.K. is no different. "Have you guys heard of beer? It's basically the greatest substance known to man, right? You should try it cold, it's ten times better!" But it is easy to forget that unlike beer, there are a lot of people who haven't heard of Louis C.K.

But I think they will soon. He's had two brilliant specials, a criminally underrated sitcom and has an upcoming television show on FX. And his comedy is in no way niche. Seeing him live as part of The New York Comedy Festival, I was struck by how universal his comedy is. I don't have kids. I am not divorced. But somehow, Louis C.K.'s frustrations are my own and the audience's own.

I arrived at Carolines knowing I was in for something special. I didn't know who would be opening and middling for C.K., but it was a treat to discover that two of my favorite New York comedians, Hannibal Buress and Kumail Nanjiani, would be handling the respective duties.

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On the last day of the New York Comedy Festival, I was able to close things off with a bang by attending two excellent shows; Andy Samberg and Friends and Louis C.K. at Carolines.

I'll be writing a show report from the Louis C.K. show in the very near future, but right now let's talk about the fun night we all had (I all had) at Andy Samberg and Friends.

It was a lot of fun! Although Samberg was front and center as host, it almost could have been called The Saturday Night Live Partial Cast and Crew Extravaganza. Just about every performer was either a writer or a performer for SNL, which was a treat!

It should come as no surprise that SNL has a few amazing stand-ups in its writing ranks. The night included comedy from writers Seth Meyers, Hannibal Buress, Colin Jost, Bryan Tucker, John Mulaney and more.

Click after the jump to continue reading.

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As part of the New York Comedy Festival, I attended two Paley Center speaker panels (Speaking panels at a media museum?! Will my crazy drunken antics never stop?!) with the writers for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Colbert Report. I was able to talk to both writing staffs before each panel. Here's a video interview with the Colbert writers.

So that was awesome. We also got to sit down with the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon writers and talk to them for a few minutes. Click after the jump to read on.

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You guys know I am a big 30 Rock fan. Without a doubt, one of the most consistent scene-stealers on the show is Tracy Morgan. Do you guys remember how fucking hysterical he was on SNL?

I had the great privilege of interviewing Tracy for the New York Comedy Festival, and I have to say, sitting right next to him, the dude is a star. He's got that captivating presence, where when he talks, everyone listens.

Right off the bat, we asked him to play a game where he'd caption some photos for us (he joked, "It's not kiddie porn or nothing like that, right?") He went off on one picture in particular…

"Let me put it to you like this, how do you know this really happened? I could say Hollywood… I wasn't on the fucking moon. For all I know it could have been done in some Hollywood studio."

So, I'm not sure where Tracy Morgan falls with the moon conspirators, but he had a ton of interesting stuff to say about his career and his life. Click after the jump to read it.

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HOLEE SHIT! Before the New York Comedy Festival started, I said I'd interview some of my personal heroes, and this is definitely one of them. I was so excited to talk to everyone, because I was a super fan of all the comics, but Patton Oswalt is someone I've been obsessing over since high school. Before I started rolling the camcorder, he mentioned he actually likes our humble blog! LOL WUT?! As my Dad would say, "I am being Prank'd, right?! Where is Ashley Kutcher hiding?"

Fun Mike Birbiglia fact: Did you know Mike Birbiglia is great? He even put up with our ramshackle techniques and was totally okay with shooting the interview in a coat closet at an after-show party. Maybe he thought I was cinéma verité filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (that one goes to all my documentary nerds in the house! What, what?!). That or he is a nice guy. Oh, also, we got kicked out of the closet by a big guy (that's what xe said).

For more behind the scenes coverage, visit Caroline's All Access Pass blog.

As part of the New York Comedy Festival coverage, I had the distinct privilege of sitting down with one of my personal heroes, Ricky Gervais. Yeah. That's right. This Ricky Gervais.

Even though it'd only been two nights of coverage so far, I was already feeling a little haggard. Slight patches of hair were blossoming over my face like weeds on a dying field of grass. And I had to go meet with Ricky Gervais in those conditions, wearing the same underwear I'd had on for a million days straight (TMI!)

Considering the fact that he's a super genius at TV, and he should be in charge of all the TV shows, I decided to play a game with him where I gave him fake titles for TV shows and he'd pitch me the concept. Here are the ones he came up with:

My Sack of Kids

"I think it's set in the future. It's a sitcom, but set in the future, where they tax – there could be overcrowding- but they tax you if you get a kid, like in China. So what people do is they secretly have them, but if they're not exactly how they want, they throw them away. So someone comes around and collects them all and they leave them outside the hospital. It's a weird sitcom. It's on late. I'll give you that. Tim Allen would be perfect. He's the investigator who knows what's going on."

Catholic Rodeo

"They train choir boys to be really flexible and the Catholic priests try to enter them. It's a late night reality show."

Cake Subordinate

"[Laughter] I don't even wanna mess with that. That's just a great title." (Ed Note: I just included this one to brag about making Ricky Gervais laugh)

That Fucking Cat!

"That's a drama series. It's about something else, but every day, when the guy gets home, he's a cop who had to give up his badge because the drinking got to him. He goes without a badge. He doesn't need a badge. It's sort of hardcore. He comes home every night. He sits down and has a drink and he looks around and his cat has shat everywhere. And he just goes, 'That fucking cat.'"

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Do you guys know those Smirnoff Ice commercials where all those hipsters fill that pool with foam and cardboard and then are all like, "We were there. Be there." That's what I felt like backstage at the New York Comedy Festival's Stand Up For Heroes event, like a corporately co-opted hipster awash in a pool of Lisa Lampanelli and Stephen Colbert. I was there. But now you too can be there, through the magic of this three minute video I made for you guys.

As promised, I'm going to keep the New York Comedy Festival reporting coming, so stay tuned for more interviews and junk!

Jerry Seinfeld cast Tom Papa as the marriage ref in The Marriage Ref. Papa's got a brand new bag, amirite, folks? (I'm sorry). [The Live Feed]

The Berenstain Bears are being turned into a movie now too. I can't wait for a pun-lovin' critic to call the finished film "The Berenstain Bores." [USA Today]

Owen Wilson is going to voice Marmaduke, which should be a fairly easy paycheck for Wilson because MARMADUKE DOESN'T TALK! [Hollywood Reporter]

David Wain wrote a one-page screenplay about a magic flower that causes people to have sex and then break up. That's what it was about, right? [Movieline]

Curb Your Enthusiasm's Richard Kind talks about being a part of Celebrity Autobiography, a show from the New York Comedy Festival wherein comedians read from… you guessed it, excerpts from celebrity autobiographies. [Wall Street Journal]

Speaking of Curb Your Enthusiasm co-stars, Susie Essman is interviewed on a local news channel and she has to explain to the anchors that she isn't actually her character from Curb. [Fox 2 St. Louis]

The Second City 50th Anniversary Celebration just got a full line-up. Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell are in it! [Comic's Comic]

Jemaine Clement says we'll soon know if The Flight of the Conchords HBO series will be kaput or not. [ABC News]

Here are the six kinds of laughs to have at the New York Comedy Festival. You are only allowed to have these six kinds. Anyone having any other kinds of laughs will be prosecuted within the full extent of the LOL. [AV Club]

Are you excited for next week? I am excited for next week. And not just because I'm going to stockpile so much candy this Halloween that I'm going to have my dinner taken care of for the next few days. I'm excited because I will be attending the New York Comedy Festival.

I shall be photo-blogging, video-blogging and, yes, even word-blogging the event. If you see a short kid at the festival who looks about twelve years old and is holding a digital camera, a video camera and a phone for the twitters, that is probably me. It might be another blogger that looks like a prepubescent child, but it is probably little ol' Gonzalo Cordova.

Oh, I'm also going to be talking to comedians and asking them questions. Like pretty famous comedians. Like people who are my heroes. You guys will see. You will all see!

Which reminds me, have you guys even seen the line-up for NYCF? The performers include Louis C.K., Ricky Gervais, Patton Oswalt, Mike Birbiglia, Andy Samberg, Tracy Morgan, Dane Cook, Bill Maher, Artie Lange and more. Wow those guys are all very popular! They are like titans of industry. I guarantee there is at least one comedian in the lineup you will be dying to see perform. Get information and buy tickets here.

If you can't make it to any of the events, don't fret. Like I said, I will be reporting from the festival next week. And reading my recaps and watching my short videos will be basically as fun as actually being present and enjoying yourself while watching live comedy, right?

Honestly, it won't be anywhere near as much fun, but I promise there will be a ton of surprises. And a ton of free food for me to eat (hopefully).