Video - In memory of John Pinette (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) American actor and stand-up comedian.

Video - In memory of John Pinette (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) American actor and stand-up comedian.John Pinette (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up, Pinette did impressions of The Chipmunks, Elvis Presley, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Hervé Villechaize (Tattoo from Fantasy Island), an Ewok, actor Marlon Brando (notably Brando's role in The Godfather), as well as various ethnic accents. He occasionally sang, for example "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, in stand-up routines.Pinette was pronounced dead at 2:30 pm on April 5, 2014, at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny County medical examiner's office said Pinette had been suffering from liver and heart disease. An autopsy was not performed, as Pinette’s personal doctor signed off on his cause of death as pulmonary embolismSource.

Video - Stand Up Comedy - That Canadian Guy - "women and subway subs."

Somali comedian who poked fun at Islamists shot dead.

Somali comedian who poked fun at Islamists shot dead.(AA).Gunmen assassinated a well-known comedian and musician who poked fun at Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents in the Somali capital, police and colleagues said Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks against media and cultural figures. Warsame Shire Awale, a famous composer who had worked with Somalia’s national army band before joining Radio Kulmiye as a drama producer and comedian, was attacked by two gunmen late on Monday. “Gunmen killed him... we are investigating the matter and the killers will be brought to justice,” police chief Ahmed Hassan Malin told reporters.
“Two men armed with pistols shot and wounded him near his house in Waberi district, he died shortly after in hospital,” said Abdi Mohamed Haji, a colleague at Radio Kulmiye. The killing, the latest in a wave of attacks on media workers in Somalia, follows the murder of fellow comic Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale in August, who also worked at Kulmiye.
Popular especially with the youth, 61-year old Awale’s programs mocked the Shebab leadership, pointing out their misuse of the form of extreme Islamic law they imposed in the war-torn Horn of Africa country.
The veteran broadcaster would create drama shows in which he would examine the hardship of staying in Shebab-controlled areas, as well as the challenges in trying to escape from their orders. “Given the nature of the Shebab, he knew he was at risk of dying,” said his nephew Mohamed Abdiweli.
But senior Shebab official Ali Mohamed Hussein said they were not responsible, blaming instead government forces whom he said “kill people for their telephones and their petty belongings.” “This gentleman was an old man and we had no wish to kill him,” Hussein said. “Blaming the Shebab for this is a politically motivated issue.” The U.N. human rights agency voiced deep concern at the attacks and urged the government to bring the killers to justice, saying the latest deaths brought to 18 the number of media workers killed in Somalia this year. “We are extremely alarmed by the continuing assault on Somalia’s media workers and journalists by Al-Shebab and other elements,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, told reporters in Geneva.
“That’s the second highest toll in the world after Syria,” he said, calling on Somalia’s government “to take urgent steps to protect journalists and other media workers and to end the complete impunity that has been enjoyed by their killers.” “The role of the media is crucial as Somalia tries to get back on its feet, and the continued slaughter of the country’s journalists risks stifling the media’s ability to contribute to an improvement in law and order and good governance,” he added. Press rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that the toll this year meant that it is the “deadliest year” on record for Somalia. “Warsame Shire Awale was an active and respected member of the entertainment world and his murder has again highlighted the scale of the tragedy unfolding in this country,” RSF said. Several killings are blamed on the Shebab insurgents, but other murders are also believed to be linked to struggles within the multiple factions in power.Hmmmm.....A job with a 'predictable' Future: "Islamists standup Comedian"?Read the full story here.

Video - Press conference with Sacha Baron Cohen in which he thanks UN for 'brave inaction' over Syria.

HT: IsraelMatzav.

A 'gutsy' call by Saturday Night Live

A 'gutsy' call by Saturday Night Live.(IsraelMatzav).NBC's Saturday Night Live made a not very gutsy call on Saturday night, replacing a skit of President Obama taking credit for killing Bin Laden with a parody of Fox and Friends.

In the skit, President Obama addresses Americans soon after the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden — and he makes sure to remind viewers that all credit for the raid on the terrorist leader’s compound belongs to him.

“I hope you had a safe and joyous first anniversary of his killing,” the president, portrayed by Fred Armisen, begins.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be at home this year, as I had to fly to Afghanistan, to remind President Karzai that, exactly one year ago, we killed Osama bin Laden, and that the decision to do so was a gutsy one,” the president continues. “And was mine.”

The president then outlines what gifts are appropriate on the anniversaries of “Killing Osama bin Laden Day,” and reminds his audience that “heavy drinking, and Killing Osama bin Laden Day, are never a good combination.”

The full text of the skit, which was authored by comedian Jim Downey, is viewable here. It is not clear why the skit was scrapped.

So did the White House ask that the skit be scrapped or did NBC self-censor? This is just unbelievable. This is the show that in 1976 nearly elected Jimmy Carter single-handedly by having Gerald Ford (Chevy Chase) fall over a lectern, and with endless jokes about how Ford could not walk and chew gum at the same time. I guess they only parody Republicans. What a shock....Read the full story here.