AV Brew: It Ain’t Over

Posted by belleburr on

@arrpeebee checks out #ItAintOver the amazing #YogiBerra doc from @sony!

Pop Culture Uncovered

There’s a decent chance that more than a few people reading this have never heard of Yogi Berra and clicked on this article by mistake. If you’re Gen-X, like me, you more than likely remember Berra from his appearances in Miller Lite commercials. If you’re a baseball fan like me, you know he played for the New York Yankees and he managed/coached some teams after he retired. You might know that he was on a bunch of Yankees teams that won the World Series.

If you take the 99 minutes it takes to watch It Ain’t Over, the documentary of his life, well, you’ll realize you don’t know a heck of a lot of what you don’t know (a layman’s attempt to craft a Yogi-ism).

From his hardscrabble, working family upbringing in St. Louis to his military service: getting injured on D-Day and being awarded a Purple Heart…

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AV Brew: Top Gun: Maverick Spoiler-Free Review

Posted by belleburr on

Pop Culture Uncovered

By Chuck Valley

Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Miles Teller plays Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

In the run-up to watch “Top Gun: Maverick,” I prepared myself like anyone else would by watching the original “Top Gun.” And while, granted, this is not a review of the 1986 classic, there is something to be said about the impression I got from watching it now, firmly ensconced in my adulthood, and how it compares to Maverick. For context, I hadn’t seen Top Gun in a good 20 years (with the exception of a snippet here and there on network tv while channel surfing faster than Hamm in Toy Story). Also (for context-slash-disclaimer) I was never the biggest Top Gun fan – the formula for the movie relies on tropes, clichés, a Deus Ex Goose to violently thrust…

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28 Days of Black Comedy: Moms Mabley Week

Posted by Ron Burr on

Hey, everyone. We’re going to do something a little different for Black History Month. Usually, we pick a different comedian every day. This month, we’re going to pick one comedian each week and take a deeper dive into their work. This week we’re celebrating Moms Mabley.

Mabley is one of the literal original stand-up comedians of any race. To say she paved the way is an understatement that does a disservice to her contributions to the genre of comedy. She has never received the respect she deserves for her work.

This is from 1974. Moms is 80 and less than one year from her passing, and she still steals the show and breaks Kris Kristofferson at least half a dozen times. She was just a natural entertainer and has a seemingly effortless ability to elicit laughter from the crowd as well as whoever she is performing with.

28 Days of Black Comedy: Moms Mabley Week

Posted by Ron Burr on

Hey, everyone. We’re going to do something a little different for Black History Month. Usually, we pick a different comedian every day. This month, we’re going to pick one comedian each week and take a deeper dive into their work. This week we’re celebrating Moms Mabley.

Mabley is one of the literal original stand-up comedians of any race. To say she paved the way is an understatement that does a disservice to her contributions to the genre of comedy. She has never received the respect she deserves for her work.

Today is a clip from 1948(!) showing Moms doing it before most of the icons of stand-up were born. To this day the lack of respect Moms gets is disgusting.

28 Days of Black Comedy: Moms Mabley Week

Posted by Ron Burr on

Hey, everyone. We’re going to do something a little different for Black History Month. Usually, we pick a different comedian every day. This month, we’re going to pick one comedian each week and take a deeper dive into their work. This week we’re celebrating Moms Mabley.

Mabley is one of the literal original stand-up comedians of any race. To say she paved the way is an understatement that does a disservice to her contributions to the genre of comedy. She has never received the respect she deserves for her work.

This clip is from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Please note that Tom uses the word “Negro”, which Moms seamlessly transitions into using “colored”, which was the preferred nomenclature at the time. This is the mark of a professional at work.

28 Days of Black Comedy: Richard Pryor Week

Posted by Ron Burr on

Hey, everyone. We’re going to do something a little different for Black History Month. Usually, we pick a different comedian every day. This month, we’re going to pick one comedian each week and take a deeper dive into their work. This week we’re celebrating Richard Pryor.

Honestly, we could do an entire month with just Richard Pryor and we’d still only be scratching the surface of the material available. It isn’t hyperbole to say that Pryor is one of the most influential comedians we’ve ever had grace the genre.

This clip is from the Dick Cavett show. In our not so humble opinion Dick Cavett is the best interviewer that has graced television, and this interview with Pryor shows this. Pryor opens up in a way you just don’t see in other interviews. Please take the time to enjoy this clip.

28 Days of Black Comedy: Richard Pryor Week

Posted by Ron Burr on

Hey, everyone. We’re going to do something a little different for Black History Month. Usually, we pick a different comedian every day. This month, we’re going to pick one comedian each week and take a deeper dive into their work. This week we’re celebrating Richard Pryor.

Honestly, we could do an entire month with just Richard Pryor and we’d still only be scratching the surface of the material available. It isn’t hyperbole to say that Pryor is one of the most influential comedians we’ve ever had grace the genre.

Today we’re catching a little more obscure Pryor stand-up special, one where he lets himself really explore comedy and his interactions with the audience. Observe how he keeps the audience in the palm of his hand for the entire set. It’s a master class in stand-up.