Making a television show is difficult, especially one like Saturday Night Live where all the content is written and produced a week in advance before live airing.  From the looks of this video, making an SNL is a long an tedious process.  Here, they are just making a promo spot, and even though this video is edited to 9 minutes, it probably took well over an hour.  It’s fantastic to watch though.  First you have Eddie Vedder, appearing in April of 1994, a few days after Kurt Cobain killed himself.  Eddie and Pearl Jam did a nice little tribute to Kurt as you can see in the picture above with the “K” on Eddie’s chest.  That’s just a bit of rock and roll history, but in this clip you get to see a nervous and very young Adam Sandler yuck it up with Eddie, whom Adam is clearly enamored with.  You also get to see the oddly detached Emilio Estevez, famous brother of Charlie Sheen, and son of Martin Sheen, interact with these other two icons of film and music.  At one point Eddie asks Emilio, how’s it been this week, to which Emilio replies, “I believe everything’s been good, just fine.”  It was awkward, and Emilio looks like he’d rather be anywhere else then with some long haired grunge rocker and with the jittery nutbar Adam Sandler.  This video is fascinating and revealing, and an awesome time capsule of one of SNL’s golden eras.  Check it out!

The Kids in the Hall were a sketch comedy team formed in the 1980s by a group of talented and semi-demented Canadian geniuses.   SNL guru, and fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels gave them a show that pushed the limits of comedy to frightening new edges of hilarity.  Playing out like an uncensored SNL, the Kids in the Hall tackled drugs, homosexuality, counter-culture ideas, religion, and raving lunacy with breathless confidence, finding humor in very dark places.  In many ways, its no surprise they were Doors fans.  The Doors were a group who too were unafraid to push boundaries, and they did both musically and socially with their manic psychedelic rock and with the outrageous behavior of lead singer Jim Morrison.  So, Kids and the Hall and the Doors?  Match made in heaven.  Check out the hilarious clip below where the Kids in the Hall teach you exactly how to be a Doors fan, and then watch the clip of “Waiting For the Sun,” preferably at dusk.

Amy Sedaris is one of the funniest comedic performers of all time.  I was going to say funniest female comedic performers, but I realized that’s just stupid.  Her talent shouldn’t be subjugated to some gender consignment.  She’s a performance genius, and if you’ve never seen “Strangers With Candy,” the mastermind show created by Amy, Paul Dinello, and Steven Colbert, do yourself a favor and track it down right now.  I’m pretty sure every episode is available for free on comedycentral.com.  Anyway, Amy does most of her performing these days on the Letterman show, as she became one of Letterman’s most frequent and favorite guests.  When she does Dave’s show, she is like a rocket of spirit, laughs, and quirky charm.  Every time she is on, she makes Dave and the audience fall head over heals in love with her.  What I have below is Amy’s most recent appearance on the Late Show, and she talks about turning 50, touching the elderly, root canals, and Keith Richards.  It’s really a joyful interview, and if you like it, there are no shortages of her appearances on youtube, and they’re all great.  Enjoy.

The worst thing about Dave Chappelle leaving his hit Comedy Central show all those years ago, was that so much stuff has happened in the world, and Chappelle’s voice was sorely missed.  I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear Chappelle during the 2008 election.  I needed to hear Chappelle during the fiscal crisis, and the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin, and every other major American moment because Chappelle is the best American comedian.  He is simply a gifted genius, and the fact that he has limited himself to unannounced random standup appearances, where he insists that no one film him, has left a gaping hole in the comedy world, and it makes videos like the ones I’m presenting below so vital, despite their less than stellar quality.  In these clips, Chappelle is performing at the “Comedy Jam,” in California, and only being a few months old, it represents his most current standup.  You’ll see a pumped up Chappelle take on Obama, living in Ohio, Osama Bin Ladin, racism, Kramer, and his real top secret reason for leaving the spotlight.  It’s all quite hilarious and brilliant, and his timing is still razor sharp.  It’s a real treat for all of Chappelle’s biggest fans.  Enjoy.

Part 76 of my youtube countdown closes down punk week in a hilarious fashion.  It’s an old interview from the Howard Stern show featuring Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone going at each others throats with juvenile comic viciousness.  Marky calls up Howard complaining that Joey called Marky a drunk the other day.  Joey gets on the line and accuses Marky of having spread rumors about him on the internet.  The fight intensifies and devolves from there into petty name calling, a question into who is sober and who is not, and a cutting accusation of wig wearing.  It’s so funny because its a real fight and gives you an idea as to what band fights are like, the insecurity amongst members, and the fragility of their massive egos.  Happily, the fight does resolve fairly amicably, but probably because both Joey and Marky started to get embarrassed.  This is a great moment in punk rock history and a must listen.  Oh, yea, I included, “I Wanna Be Sedated” as a bonus video to serve as a nice chaser to the hilarious antics.  Enjoy.

Welcome to part 48 of my youtube countdown!  Sorry music fans, I got a comedy video for you, and guess what, I’m not really sorry!  This is Louis CK, the funniest standup comedian alive, talking about how nobody is happy with the incredible futuristic society we were all born into.  I actually remember seeing this appearance on the Conan show years ago, 2004 I think, and NEVER forgetting it.  Luckily, the folks at youtube never forgot either.  Louis basically says everything that’s been on my mind about people in today’s world, and I won’t spoil it by repeating his brilliant and hilarious insights.  Please, do your soul a favor, sit back, and prepare to laugh, a lot.