I live in New York. I am a stand up comic, writer and actor. You may have seen my writing on many reputable websites (The Huffington Post, Hello Giggles, xojane.com, The Hairpin, Splitsider, The FW, etc.). I also write crazy blogs about Game of Thrones, Magneto and Jeff Goldblum. I was formerly member of the PITtv House Team, Codswallop.
You can email me at megsokay@gmail.com.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
I think I’m going to be on TV this weekend.
Last November I answered a weird Facebook ad for a reality show looking for a funny girl who reads comics. Well, that would be me, so I answered it.
That show was then called “Secret Stash” and is now airing on AMC as “Comic Book Men”. It looks from promotional images like I’m in the next episode. (The person they are pointing and laughing at is ME!)
I don’t think I’ll watch it. Mostly because Downton Abbey is on. Also because I think the idea of watching myself on television is abhorrent. I mean, I would watch a stand up set because that’s “my show” and I wrote it and I need to improve it for the future. Watching myself behave awkwardly on camera with a bunch of people I only met that one time just seems torturous, especially when it’s likely that I will be edited to look crazy or ditzy or awkward.
I mean, hey, I signed the disclaimer. It’s a reality show. They’ll probably edit me to look ridiculous because they are seeking to air the most entertaining program they possibly can. I understand this.
The whole experience was fun and that’s how I’d like to remember it: as a weird day where I had a weird and fun adventure. The people behind-the-scenes were terribly nice. The town of Redbank, New Jersey is impossibly quaint and beautiful. It was just a fun little afternoon. That’s my reality and that’s how I want to keep it regardless of how positive or negative or non-existent my edit is.
Meghan reviews NBC pilots that were released early on iTunes - Entry One: Smash
Oh, boy…
Before I say anything else, let me just say that I will be DVRing this show. You should also know that I DVR America’s Next Top Model and documentaries on baby sloths, so being put on my DVR queue is less of a vote of confidence and more of an admittance that this show is the kind of thing I’d want to watch half drunk and exhausted at 11:43 pm on a weekday night or hungover and eating a bagel at 11:43 am on a weekend day.
Here are my thoughts on the pilot (some spoilers):
- I hope Debra Messing gets some acting lessons.
- Jack Davenport is so good at sneering.
- I wish someone would make a show that was just Angelica Houston. She could be drinking coffee, she could be smiling or she could be reading National Geographic next to a fish tank with no fish in it. ANGELICA HOUSTON.
- Whenever I saw Megan Hilty’s bare arms, part of me was like, “Good for her. She has real arms and didn’t feel the need to do crazy amounts of bicep curls before her television debut.” The other part of me picked up the dumbbells that have been sitting unused in my room for a year and started doing bicep curls.
- Katherine McPhee was better in this than she’s been in anything before. Meaning, she’s okay.
- Okay, so there’s this writers’ assistant character who’s played so poorly that I have to believe that the actor playing him isn’t an actor, but an actual writers’ assistant who was put in the show as some sort of weird meta commentary on ruthless and manipulative and “All About Eve”-ish assistants.
- How does Katherine McPhee’s struggling actress character have a hot, supportive, Anglo-Indian (Indian-Anglo?) boyfriend in New York, and I just have an unhealthy obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch?!?! Isn’t there some sort of on-set adviser advising people on how struggling performers actually live?!?!?
- Is Ivy supposed to have an eating disorder or a nervous stomach?
- I wish there were more scenes with Debra Messing and the other actor whom I know is a big Broadway deal but who’s name I don’t know actually writing the songs. Because I’m totally confused as to how they work together (like, who writes music and who writes lyrics). It seems to me they talk a lot to other people about how hard writing songs are and then someone comes in and they’re like, “Oh, let me sit at this piano and improvise a jaunty number that will be GENIUS.” That can’t be right.
- Why does Debra Messing need to adopt a baby when there’s a teenage boy in her apartment she’s already ignoring?
- Speaking of the teenage son, is he supposed to have a mental disability? Because I couldn’t tell if he was or was not. Either that’s bad acting or that’s bad acting and bad writing.
- I like song and dance numbers.
- These people can all sing. That’s refreshing.
- This show will either end up fixing its issues and will be awesome, or it will devolve into madness avec les jazz-hands. Either way…I’M GOING TO DVR IT.
46. Don’t wear a mustache if you plan on doing a lot of TV.
47. Mustaches obscure your mouth, teeth and facial expressions.
48. Tom Selleck looks good in a mustache. You don’t look like Tom Selleck
Important tips from this list of 113 things to wear/not wear/do/not do on TV I found. Essentially it adds up to NEVER DO TELEVISION. YOU’LL LOOK A FOOL.
Also:
61. Don’t lick your lips; you’ll look like a child molester if you do.
63. Don’t dart your tongue out while you speak, you’ll seem like a serpent.
66. Do you like the way you look? If not, why not?
2 Broke Girls
I’m home tonight recovering from my crazy flight from LA ordeal (Details aren’t important. Just know that my body has no idea where on Earth it is right now.). So I watched 2 Broke Girls.
It’s a pilot. It’s close to impossible to judge shows on pilots (unless that show is Arrested Development). There was a lot I didn’t really like about the pilot. However, by the end of the episode there were a couple of things I strongly liked about the show.
1) Kat Dennings. Putting aside that she has a gorgeous non-stick figure (it makes her relatable to women, so it is worth mentioning), she also has an INSANE amount of natural charm. I noticed it in Thor. She stole the show from Natalie Portman there and I think TV is a fantastic platform for her natural charisma. She sold the character of Max in a way that most comedic actresses would kill to be able to do. I was impressed.
2) Beth Behr. Like Dennings, she brings an ease to what she’s doing. I could be wrong, but this could be her first real big role? Anyway, if Dennings has the ability to marry sharp coldness with warmth, she has the ability to marry ditziness with wisdom. I liked her.
3) It’s a show about two girls who like and look out for each other. The only other current sitcom that I can think of that stresses this is Parks and Recreation, and that’s more of an ensemble show. This is a sitcom about women taking care of each other. We need more shows like that.
I have a ton of quibbles with the show that have to do with style, writing and production, but most of that is a matter of personal taste. I am actually really psyched this is on the air because we need more shows that are about girls being strong on their own and being stronger when they band together. So, yeah…I’ll say I liked it.
Traffic Light Recap: “Pilot” | Splitsider
I reviewed Fox’s new sitcom Traffic Light last night. If you saw it, you might correctly assumed that I DID NOT CARE FOR IT VERY MUCH.
So Halle kind of kills it in this review. She explains very eloquently why relationship comedies need to stop playing with the same “wives and girlfriends are soul-sucking demons” trope and try something a bit more modern on for size. Between reading this and my good friend Perich’s latest on OverthinkingIt.com (in which he examines why Modern Family approaches gay marriage in such a un-modern and conservative manner), I’m beginning to wonder if I should blame my dueling fears of commitment and dying alone on sitcoms. Or maybe I should blame it on how after cramming my precocious little girl head with fairy tales, my mom gave me an illustrated storybook about Henry VIII and his six wives.
Either way, I’m blaming mass media.
Thoughts while watching the Lost finale..
Granted, I haven’t watched Lost really in over a year, but I have been keeping up with the big plot points online. After watching the unLocke/Jack showdown, it seems to me though that it’s become a lot like Supernatural S5. Fair statement?
