PRATT-RIOTIC DUTY: Chris Pratt to promote American history abroad in government-funded comedy videos
The federal government is getting into comedy; whether that will be supported by the taxpayer remains to be seen.
Government-funded educational videos are stepping into the modern era, tapping versatile actor Chris Pratt to head up a new project.
'Intended to engage international audiences with America's constitutional values.'
Birthday boy
The combined effort between the U.S. Department of State's Office of Public Diplomacy and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will have the "Guardians of the Galaxy" actor star in a series of comedy shorts for the birthday of the United States.
According to Variety, the America 250 videos will follow Pratt as he hopes to share his passion for American history but realizes he isn't as knowledgeable as he thought he was.
Pratt will get help from historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, who will keep him on track and correct his historical knowledge.
Showboat diplomacy
The government project, in its entirety, is intended to "inform and engage foreign publics about America through international media engagement, educational and cultural exchange programs, digital communications, and outreach conducted through U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide," an announcement stated.
The series was actually designed as a "public diplomacy initiative intended to engage international audiences with America's constitutional values and history through modern digital storytelling," the producers reportedly said.
These producers are from digital media company ATTN: — out of Los Angeles — and said they are "always looking for new ways to make important topics accessible to broader audiences."
ATTN: co-founder and CEO Matthew Segal said America 250 offers a "unique diplomacy opportunity to reintroduce the stories, principles, and people that shaped the nation."
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'Unhappy' coincidence
The series may have a different mission, but it isn't the only America 250-themed comedy sketch series making noise. "Seinfeld" creator Larry David's "Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness" is set for release on HBO at the end of June.
The series stars David, along with guest stars like Jerry Seinfeld and Vince Vaughn, in a stream of outlandish bits centered around American history.
Essentially, David acts as his typical misunderstood and outraged self in different historical settings. Fans can look forward to seeing him get annoyed about the first-ever flight or criticizing the photo of a soldier's wife during trench warfare in WWI.
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Tony Hinchcliffe: Chelsea Handler's 'Nazi' insult is the brainchild of 'mentally ill liberals'
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe says Los Angeles writers are living in an unfunny liberal bubble of mental illness, and that includes those who write for Chelsea Handler.
Hinchcliffe's reaction to Netflix's roast of Kevin Hart aired on Monday during his show "Kill Tony," which was filmed the day after he went head-to-head with Handler in front of the world.
'They just read what the writers wrote for them without any originality whatsoever.'
Heil Handler
During the roast, Handler called Hinchcliffe and fellow star Shane Gillis white supremacists and Nazis who would rather spend their time burning crosses, while Hinchcliffe poked fun at how the 51-year-old comedienne constantly brags about being childless and single.
Hinchcliffe wasted no time getting right into the good stuff on Monday, saying that the roast was the first time he had been "called a Nazi multiple times in just a few hours."
The Ohio native recalled that while everyone human he has interacted with told him his performance was "unbelievable," fake news media was busy trying to convince the general public otherwise.
"There's news articles — because the news isn't real. Nothing is real — that say that I got lit up by Chelsea Handler, which is very, very funny because that's not what happened at all."
The "Kill Tony" host described Handler as a "c**t" who "just kept coming at me" despite making false claims like he had taken money from Saudi Arabia.
"The teleprompter only went down during my set," Hinchcliffe recalled. "And it gave me a lot of opportunity to remind Chelsea Handler what she looks like and where her life is, because she had it coming."
Bubble-brained
Hinchcliffe blamed Handler's lack of creativity on her writers, describing L.A. writing circles as "a lot of mentally ill liberals" who call him a Nazi but somehow can't tell that his show is performed with a bunch of "blacks and Jews and Mexicans" around him. Hinchcliffe was referring to his trio of Mexican brass musicians, his Mexican drummer, and his black keyboard player and black guitarist (who is also blind).
"I guess I'm a f**king Nazi somehow," Hinchcliffe added. "I guess the guy that pulls names out of a bucket, giving everybody an opportunity, is a Nazi. Isn't that something?"
Hinchcliffe described those putting racist labels on him as people who have "never written anything in their lives," summing them up as being cue-card and teleprompter readers.
"They just read what the writers wrote for them without any originality whatsoever," he explained. While some of the others are good writers, the 41-year-old admitted, "the rest of them are just living in a bubble of mental illness, and it's very exciting."
RELATED: 'ROAST' BEEF: Chelsea Handler scolds fellow comics for 'racist,' 'sexist' jokes
Roast redux
While Hinchcliffe disagreed with the idea that comedians like Handler should go first in the broadcast, he said it gave him the opportunity to watch what she was doing and prepare for the onslaught he was about to deliver.
Hinchcliffe paraphrased that even though he "got called a Nazi, gay, [and] a racist over and over again," he is "none of those three things," but those he made fun of are in fact "fat, ugly, black, [or] Jewish."
The "Kill Tony" crowd went wild after those comments, as Hinchcliffe concluded, "Anyway, it was fun."
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'Hot' Chelsea Handler digs up dirt from Tony Hinchcliffe, Shane Gillis ex-files
Television host Chelsea Handler said she knows exactly what comedians Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe are like behind closed doors after allegedly talking to their ex-girlfriends.
In addition to throwing insults at the two stars in a recent interview, Handler also talked about how her promiscuity is justifiable so long as she is "hot."
'I'm rich, I'm famous, and I'm hot.'
'Gross vibe'
The 51-year-old said she knew there was going to be a "gross vibe" at the Kevin Hart roast, and she blamed Gillis and Hinchcliffe for setting the mood.
Handler told podcast host Deon Cole that she had Gillis' and Hinchcliffe's ex-girlfriends "blowing up" her inbox to tell her about them, which led her to the conclusion, "Oh, these guys are pretty bad."
Handler followed her game of telephone by stating that what she was told confirmed "everything we know" about the two comedians.
"That they're racist, that they're bigots, that they're sexist, you know, that they think they're, like, invincible," Handler claimed.
Gillis "believes — this is per one of his exes — that he's invincible. He's like, 'Doesn't matter. I can say anything I want,'" Handler said.
Despite claiming the duo's jokes at the Netflix roast were "gross" and filled with "disgustingness," Handler described herself as the same as the two comedians, but a female version.
"I don't care if these guys say that I'm a whore. Like, I'm doing exactly what they're doing, except I'm a woman and I'm allowed to. ... I'm rich, I'm famous, and I'm hot. So I'm f**king people."
Sex machine
After receiving confirmation of her empowerment from the host, Handler reaffirmed that her age would not stop her from having a lot of sexual partners.
"That's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to continue to keep doing that as long as, you know, I remain as f**kable as I am," she claimed.
Handler took a hard stance against roast jokes Gillis and Hinchcliffe made about race, "lynching," and black comedian Sheryl Underwood's deceased husband. At the same time, though, she admitted that even though many black people — including Underwood herself — did not get offended by the jokes, she still found it "gross."
"I'm not here to tell black people what's funny about black jokes," Handler told Cole.
"That's my opinion. I don't like that. I also don't like the N-word, but I have plenty of black friends who toss that around all the time. It's not my place to say, 'Oh, that word makes me feel uncomfortable.' You know, black people are allowed to do whatever they want."
RELATED: 'SNL' star Che blasts Kevin Hart roast's white writers — after he turned down job
Offensive line
Handler's interview was posted on Wednesday, but so was an appearance by Underwood on Gillis' podcast. Not only had Gillis previously revealed that Underwood immediately approved his jokes when he called her ahead of the roast, but she told Gillis to his face that she did not want anyone to be offended on her behalf.
"Don't be offended for me if I'm not offended. But be offended for your point of view," she told Gillis and co-host Matt McCusker. "You can have your point of view; we're not saying you can't have it."
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Conan O’Brien and Zach Galifianakis take on Trump-era comedy: 'You've now put down your best weapon, which is being funny'
Comedy used to be about making people laugh first — not lecturing audiences about politics — and according to BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere, a few comedians are finally saying out loud what audiences have been thinking for years.
“You’re looking for funny first. You don’t leave out funny,” Stu says, arguing that modern late-night television has largely abandoned comedy in favor of partisan activism.
However, Conan O’Brien appears determined to resist that trend. In a recent interview, O’Brien criticized comics who go “the route of ‘I’m just going to say F Trump all the time.’”
“That’s their comedy,” he said.
“And I think, well, now a little bit you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry. You’ve been lulled. It’s like a siren leading you into the rocks. You’ve been lulled into just saying, ‘F Trump, F Trump,’” he continued.
“And I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger. And that person or any person like that would say, 'Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.' And I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny,” he explained, adding, “you just have to find a way.”
And Conan isn’t the only comedian that feels this way.
In an interview on his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” comedian Zach Galifianakis recalled an episode he did of “Between Two Ferns” with Hillary Clinton.
“I remember when I interviewed Hillary Clinton, and I could tell she didn’t want to be there, and I totally get that. I get it. But before we had set that whole thing up, they wrote back, ‘Well, you can’t bring up those emails,’” Galifianakis said.
“And I go, ‘Well, we don’t have to do the interview. That’s fine. We won’t do it.’ When you tell powerful people no, it’s crazy. They were like, ‘OK, we’ll do it. You can ask,’” he said, adding, “Because it’s not that important to me to do it the way they want to do it.”
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