Category Archives: Blog Posts

Billy, Lena, and Elena: A modern comedy trio

March 20, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

Whether you are into the ethnic, third-world jewelry business or not or have any clue who Lila Downs is, if you enjoy things like laughter and comedy, then your mind is about to be blown. In last night’s second episode of season three of Billy on the Street, Billy invited a favorite participant from last season to square off against Lena Dunham on a new game called “Cash Cow.”

Let’s go to the transcript…

BILLY: And here, playing opposite Lena is the one and only, the only contestant from Billy on the Street to haunt my dreams and nightmares. Please welcome back from season 2…you know her…you love her?…Elena!!! How are you, Elena?

ELENA: Good, thanks. It’s so good to see you.

BILLY: What has been happening since you were on Billy on the Street the first time? Give us a little update.

ELENA: Well, I’m not as famous as she [Lena Dunham] is.

BILLY: No..

ELENA: However…I’m so famous.

Sho ’nuff. And Elena was just getting started. You can’t write this kind of comedy, and Billy Eichner doesn’t begin to try to. He knows that when you combine irreverent, pop-cultured, and referential humor, a random person on a New York street, Lena Dunham, and a cow, you are already on the right track to laughter. Elena – you are a star and Billy didn’t say “Whertle.” This is incredible.

Trust me, watch the full clip:

Then, review the “whertle” confusion incident:

Billy on the Street. He’s making comedy dreams come true.

"The Challenge", Blog Posts

Best News of the Day: Do Not Count Out Sarah

March 20, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

This is really the best news of the day. Just three weeks until the season premiere of The Challenge: Free Agents, one of the fifth major professional sport’s elite performers (and a dominant national trivia champion), sitting off this season for the first time in eight, has a major (and most appreciated) announcement. Sarah’s The Challenge participation will not end until she wins.

Don't worry folks, Im not done doing challenges till I get a #win!! @mtv @MTVShowBlog @MTVChallenge25 @TheChallengeMTV @RWRRMTV @MTVDailies

— Sarah Rice (@ImSarahRice) March 20, 2014

We will all be rooting for the day.

Blog Posts, Let's Get A Few Things Off My Chest

Let’s Get a Few Links Off My Chest

March 19, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

I am usually on top of the major sports and pop culture news and able to comment in a timely fashion, but the past several days have flooded my inbox of disposable time. Let me try to reconcile…

The final Game of Thrones season four trailer was released yesterday. The devil is inside indeed. Bran needs to make it. Arya must be careful because Brienne is after her. Why have the Gods made Jamie love a hateful woman? Have I ever been more excited for the return of television series? Answer: probably not.

Chris Martin is the new mentor this season on The Voice. Interesting move for the Coldplay frontman with their new album, Ghost Stories, out in May and the “best band in the world” championship belt up for grabs. The Voice has been a wise career move when you are not at the top of your commercial and cultural game, but when you are, it seems a little ill-advised.

Speaking of the “best band in the world championship belt,” first Billboard reports that a new U2 album and tour would be delayed until 2015. Then The Guardian said hold up, 2014 is still in play. Hey Bono, Edge, Larry, and Adam – can we get some intel on this, please? I am trying to figure out my travel plans. In the meantime, Steve Hyden has some great career advice for U2, Lady Gaga, and some other side-stepping musical acts.

Woj feels that the Phil Jackson experiment will only work in Knicks land if James Dolan gets lost. Fair.

Speaking of Phil, the new fivethirtyeight.com (Nate Silver’s new ESPN statistical journalism platform) uses data to show why Phil Jackson should hire Phil Jackson as coach. His success rate as an NBA head coach is astounding.

There is reason to rejoice! BD Wong and his under-utilized Dr. Henry Wu (a much more interesting character in the original book) will be in the forthcoming Jurassic Park IV.

I am not going to lie. I really wish I had thought of this. Rank Everything: Muppet Show Music Numbers.

Seth Meyers spoke to Jason Sudeikis last night on Late Night and announced the “Second Chance Theater,” a compilation of old SNL sketches that were too sketchy to make it to air. Brilliant.

Despite showrunner rationalization, the quality of kid acting performances wasn’t the only disturbing part of this week’s Walking Dead episode.

All caught up on last night's OF MICE AND MEN– I, I mean of THE WALKING DEAD.

— Daniel Fidler (@daniel_fidler) March 18, 2014

and finally, Twitter is a force…

Blog Posts, Music, Television

St. Patrick’s Day Bliss: Jimmy Fallon and Kermit the Frog

March 18, 2014 David Bloom 1 Comment

There are many ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

For my Dad, Danny Ainge, and Rob Lowe, it is a birthday celebration.

For NBA teams with a red and black color schemes, it is an excuse to wear green.

For others, St. Patrick’s Day is a reason for parades and excessive (and frankly, unnecessary) inebriation.

After last night, I am not sure I could think of two better individuals to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with than Jimmy Fallon and a green icon in his own right, Kermit the Frog.

Their interview is one thing…

…But this performance of “Bein’ Green” is something else entirely. Classic Fallon. Classic Kermit. Classic.

Blog Posts, Television

Billy: last night in the audience, tonight on the street

March 12, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

The wait is finally over: the new season of Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street debuts tonight at 11 on Fuse (a music video television network whose lack of cultural ubiquity is a bit of its own running gag). If you have spent any amount of time on Culture Challenged, you will be aware of my unabashed adoration for Billy Eichner’s comedic genius. His brand of irreverent, pop cultured guerrilla comedy forces laughter out of me in a way that countless other admitted funny things have tried and failed.

As someone who has been a loyal follower of Mr. Eichner from close to the beginning of his time on TV, yesterday’s bookended appearances on first The Today Show with Hoda and Kathie Lee (perfection) in the morning and then on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon in late night were an unexpected treat. Coupled with appearances as recurring character, Craig the yeller, on Parks and Recreation over the last several months, today Billy is on the tipping point of the career Leap. Buy some stock, jump on the bandwagon, quickly name three white people, and come experience a comedic genius.

Billy on The Today Show:

Billy on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon

Blog Posts, Television

Ten Lessons Learned From Juan Pablo’s Disastrous “Bachelor” Season

March 11, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

ABC producers, the embattled Chris Harrison, past The Bachelor participants, any woman that had the privilege of “dating Juan Pablo” this season, and both the live studio and television viewing audience all burst into a collective outpouring (at least in our heads) of this…

…last night when Juan Pablo finally walked off the stage to the ambiguous “private life” of “happiness” with Nikki (or NEE-KEE as he calls her). Poor Nikki, so unaware that she was along for the wild ride to a man that seemed to be all confused about what he was on The Bachelor for in the first place, never got that public real moment of love that should be the light at the end of this surreal group dating extravaganza tunnel. There was already little to dispel the disastrous season that was (Juan Pablo’s public homophobic comments and then “pervert” language barrier explanation already pretty much nailed the coffin shut), but last night’s finale, filled with more offensive comments, more emotional unawareness, and a whole lot of off-putting behavior, took the horrific Juan Pablo Television Experiment to a new low. Thankfully, there are some takeaways to pull out of the rude and ugly debris field. Here are ten lessons learned from both the finale and this season of The Bachelor:

1) If the Bachelor’s parents warn the final two women against committing to their son, then it is probably not a good idea to continue to pursue a relationship with said son.

2) Contrary to what Juan Pablo thinks, “I like you a lot” is not the new “I love you.”

3) Repeating “It’s ok” every time there is conflict is not ok and may ostracize the woman you are attempting to date.

4) If the two “frontrunners” leave the show because they are not feeling the Bachelor, then there is something wrong with the Bachelor.

5) When the Bachelor openly antagonizes host Chris Harrison during the “After the Final Rose” reunion show, you know, if it is not abundantly clear already, that the man selected to be the Bachelor was an unmitigated mistake.

6) If host Chris Harrison concludes the “The After the Final Rose” show by saying, “Another season of The Bachelor comes to an end. Not going to lie, I’m ok moving on,” he is thrilled to not have to work with this Bachelor again.

7) When Sean Lowe says, “To each his own,” he does not like the person he is describing.

8) Any nostalgic momentum related to a Josh Krajcik live performance on an early season date is not enough of a reason to sustain a relationship.

9) Women do not always enjoy it when a man does excessive face touching.

10) If you avoid sleep in the fantasy suite, it should not be to count down the minutes until a morning escape.

Andi, welcome! The Bachelor/Bachelorette nation could not be happier to have you as the current face of the franchise and to finally, as you did two weeks ago, say goodbye to Juan Pablo for good.

Blog Posts, NBA

Some NBA nights matter more than others…

March 7, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

And they do. Yes, eighty two games is a long season and one off night or one blowout win is not going to make a dramatic standings difference. Yes, early season marquee matchup games are often over-hyped and over discussed (Who can forget the unnecessary backlash after the first Big Three era Heat game did not go so well in Boston in 2010?). Yes, sitting through any 76ers game at this point is a punishment that fits somewhere among descriptors “cruel,” “unusual,” and “depressing.” The NBA regular season has too many games and too many nights that are mere afterthoughts of a much too long season (certainly in terms of games) that doesn’t find its full gallop until closer to the end of the race. In a season where an average team’s intent to “tank” seems to be as pervasive as any attempts to “win,” this has been a particular problem in the 2013-2014 NBA season.

Last night was an exception to this way too common rule. Of the three games broadcast nationally on TNT (an NBA Finals Heat vs. Spurs rematch, an LA battle between the Clippers and Lakers) and over the magical NBA League Pass invention (a thrilling offensive showdown between two teams with awkward weather related and plural/singular confused names – Suns and Thunder), one was an extreme blowout that speaks to the Tank-tastic state of the NBA, one was a savvy veteran defensive shutdown that has major big picture implications, and one was a close fought nail-biter that could be a first round playoff preview. Last night in the NBA mattered. Here’s a quick game by game breakdown of why:

Spurs 111 – Heat 87

The final score, the most lopsided Heat defeat of the season, was a lot worse than it had to be after the Heat seemed to entirely fall apart in the middle of the fourth quarter. LeBron may see the “popular with no one” sleeve addition to uniforms as part of the problem, but this does not give enough credit to the unrelenting and consistent excellent basketball that has come out of Tim Duncan and the San Antonio basketball team for the last 15 (!!!) years. Every year seems to be the time for the Spurs to take a step or two backwards, but as game’s like last night continue to prove, the Spurs will again be in the mix to win an NBA Championship this spring. After taste testing Duncan and Pop’s fifth title in Game 6 last year (Parker and Ginobili’s fourth) before Ray Allen went all “I am the best three point shooter of all-time for a reason on us,” this may have been the season to finally regress a little bit, but clearly not so fast. Despite wonderful roster flexibility, a necessity against the Western Conference juggernaut row that they will have to face to get back to the Finals, and more experience playoff experience than any other potential opponent, it is not going to be an easy journey (especially now that Scott Brooks realizes that injured or not, Kendrick Perkins largely injures his team on the floor). I just hope by now we have learned not to count out the San Antonio Spurs.

Suns 128 – Thunder 122

Fact: It is March 7.

Fact: The Phoenix Suns are still in position to make the playoffs (currently in the seventh seed and a game and a half out of sixth despite losing Eric Bledsoe to injury for the past two months).

Fact: If you haven’t seen them, the Phoenix Suns are one of the most entertaining teams to watch play basketball.

Fact: According to the people who talk and write about the NBA for a living, Jeff Hornacek is the frontrunner to win Coach of the Year.

Fact: According to the people who talk and write about the NBA for a living, Goran Dragic is a legitimate third-place vote for MVP after LeBron and Durant.

Fact: Gerald Green had the following stat line last night: 41 minutes, 12-22 shooting, 8-13 from three, 9-11 on free throws, 41 points. Again, this a fact (Yes it is 2014 and yes this is not some alternate universe in which the former Slam Dunk champion has become a perennial All-Star. Yes, this is still Gerald Green).

Clippers 142 – Lakers 94 (and it wasn’t even that close)

In case math is not your forté, the Clippers beat the Lakers last night by 48 points (Wesley Johnson had a -40 +/-). The neo-rivalry that had been a little feisty since David Stern dictated the end of the Chris Paul to Lakers trade a few years ago officially blew up in this Tank-errific demolition clinic. These aren’t your NBA Champion Lakers and maybe even more so, these aren’t your cursed, Donald Sterling owned Clippers. The balance of power in LA professional basketball reached the most extreme polarity it its history last night. These Clippers are a legitimate threat in the West.

Blog Posts, Movies, Television

TV Moment of the Week: The Adele Dazeem Incident

March 7, 2014 David Bloom Leave a comment

There is really no way around this unintentionally comedic gift that, now five days out, keeps on giving. I could “let it go” and at some point soon I will, but I am just not ready yet. My new favorite part: Mr. Travolta’s diction on “wickedly.” If you are going to take a journey into the realm of pronunciation absurdity, you might as well be giving it your all. See what Mr. Travolta may have done to your name and enjoy this ten seconds of joy again (or in my case, repeatedly).