The Daily Show/Colbert Report Improv Jam (in pictures)

I wanted to post this earlier, but I got caught up in the delightful "Burn Notice" marathon on USA. That show is so F-ing fantastic. Jeffrey Donovan is made of hot. And Bruce Campbell is made of awse. Anyway, here's my recap of the improv show.

Ed sees me in the audience when he comes onto stage and smiles:


An audience member gives the suggestion, "broccoli," to the performers and Ed tells a story about someone getting the nickname "Broccoli Rabe*" during the first episode of season 5 of "The Office." Then, he goes on to say that people in high school thought he looked like the Chuckie Cheese mascot (rat-tail included...how adorable is it that Ed had a rat tail?). The group then goes on to perform a skit in which the nickname "Magic Douche" is liberally thrown around.




A few rounds later, Ed shows off his guns while flying a hot air balloon.


Later, when Rob Riggle is telling a story about working in a bag factory with a bunch of degenerates who drink at lunch, Ed looks into the audience to find me again.


Then he leans back in a relaxed fashion,

perhaps to indicate that he's open to a relationship with me!

Look at this nice, open body language - arm draped across the back of an empty chair, legs crossed towards "me" as if to say, "Iko, please come sit next to me...you won't be sorry."


Then, a bunch of other skits happened, I was too distracted by Ed leaning back in his chair to bother to pay attention enough to remember them for you guys. You can, however, see some videos of the show here.





Here, Wyatt and Ed held hands. And it was adorable.


Then, Rob Riggle played the "Garbage Czar" and Ed played his unacknowledged son, Garbage Czar Jr.


The show never did get back to broccoli. In fact, the only time it was mentioned was by Ed at the very beginning during his monologue. But, it was OK, the show was really funny, they all worked really well together. You can see why they all work(ed) for "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." They're so quick and funny.

After the show, we wanted to go to Perilla, that would be Harold from Season 1 of "Top Chef's" restaurant. We got down to Jones Street and in the door by 10:15, but no one was sitting in the restaurant eating. Before I could be like, WTF? I saw Harold (!!!) sitting at the bar, looking kind of angry. I wanted to say hi or take a picture or something, but first we asked the host if they were still serving food. Apparently there had been some kind of incident in the kitchen, which made it impossible to make food. No wonder Harold looked so angry. Sadly, this also meant no picture with him...I mean, I didn't want to bother him while his restaurant was malfunctioning. I did give him the thumbs up and a "good job!" as I left, but later realized he may have taken that as a sarcastic, "Good job on breaking your kitchen, jackass," which I clearly didn't mean. I love you, Harold - if you read this, I'm sorry if I accidentally insulted you. I can't wait to come eat at your restaurant!

Instead of Perilla, we hit up Down the Hatch for some beers and wings and Olympic-watching. Good times. After that, it was down to Dos Caminos for a mojito, although I couldn't imbibe too much, as I had to drive our asses home. Next time. All in all, a good night. It's too bad we didn't get to see Ed and Rob wandering around the street like last year.

*Broccoli rabe is one of my favorite vegetables, maybe even my favorite (someday I'll put up my recipe for broccoli rabe, caramelized onion, and Italian sausage rigatoni). Is it a sign that Ed and I are meant to be together? I'll let you decide.

Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, John Oliver and More!!! The Daily Show/Colbert Report Improv Jam

Yes, Ed was adorable and hysterical - as were everyone else. And, he wore his glasses.



(Sorry - I don't know why the link wasn't working...I think it does now! I hope!)

More pictures to come...and here they are.

Ed Week: Ed Helms Post of the Day

Here's a picture of Ed, Rob Riggle, and John Oliver performing at last year's "The Daily Show/Colbert Report Improv Jam." I'm so excited for tomorrow!

From Image1b on Flickr, through www.edhelms.org

We Were Rejected by "The Daily Show" - And So Can You!

Well, we tried. I reserved tickets online ahead of time. We got into line around 3:45, well within the suggested 3:30pm - 4:30pm line-entering time listed in the email sent to me by "The Daily Show."

But, around 5:00pm, the line police told us we weren't getting in to see the show. So sad. However (bonus alert), the line police said we could get VIP tickets to another show, provided I emailed them to schedule a day! Score one for us. What were scores two and three? Seeing Rob Riggle and Aasif Mandvi leave the studio and come back, enabling me to take surreptitious, stalker-esque pictures of them from the line.

Rob Riggle talking to a writer (?) and drinking a large, iced coffee beverage:


A pissy-looking Aasif Mandvi:


Once we found out we weren't getting in and had given my name to the line police to ensure the VIP treatment next time, we decided to walk the two blocks to "The Colbert Report" and get on the standby line to see if we could see Stephen instead.
We waited in line for a bit, then were called up to the front to put our names on the list (apparently we were supposed to do this to begin with, whatever, we had no clue what was going on). Then, the douche-y McDouchersons behind us tried to cut us and get their names on the list first. Douches. We ended up in the right order on the list, after I yelled at those bitches, no worries. I'm old, I have probably 10 less years on this earth than they did, I deserve to see the show more than they do.*

Unfortunately, all the arguing was for naught. We didn't get in Colbert, either. So, we wandered up the street, being left with three hours to kill before our dinner reservations at Blue Smoke. Once we hit 9th Ave., we saw a bunch of bars, and, clearly, since there's nothing else to do in NYC other than drink when you have to kill time, we settled on Valhalla. They had lots of beer and the Yankees game on multiple plasma screens. Why would you choose somewhere else?

Wall of Beer:


The Beer Flights:


MD and I settled on a cider, Doc's Draft Hard Apple Cider, to be more specific. It was delicious. The beer flights and the concoction of Jack Daniels and beer were very tasty, according to BMG and NC. I didn't try them. I'm not that bold. It was a great place to spend a few hours on a Thursday afternoon, killing time before dinner, being happy to not be at work. If you're in Hell's Kitchen, I highly recommend it.

After two flights of beer, three 22-oz ciders, a few more beers, and two of the Jack and beer debacles, it was time to cab it over to Blue Smoke for dinner. Luckily, our cab driver was not nearly as angry as the one who took us to Otto, so we arrived without incident.





Now, just to warn you, we were all extremely hungry, due to not eating since lunch and the excessive drinking that had stopped occurring not even twenty minutes before. So, please don't be shocked when you see the amount of food we ordered and subsequently ate. Here we go:

The Porch Swing


The Condiments and an Illinois Swing


My Pulled Pork Platter


MD's Chicken Fried Sirloin


NC's Rib Sampler Platter with the sides of Collard Greens and Sweet Potato Fries


The Mac and Cheese


The Hush Puppies and the Delicious Dipping Sauce


OK, now, let me tell you. This was all so, SO good. The pulled pork, well, you can see the pink smoke ring, so you KNOW that bitch is good. MD loved her chicken fried sirloin and NC devoured the ribs like there was no tomorrow. The mac and cheese was creamy and smooth and incredibly rich. The sweet potato fries were enormous (TWSS) and cooked perfectly. The collards were clearly cooked for hours and tasted of sweet, sweet, delicious ham hock. The hush puppies were made of awesome and not greasy at all, despite the fact that they were submerged in boiling oil for a healthy amount of time. I don't have a good picture of it, but we also ordered two sides of cornbread. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on your point of view, NC and I were the only two powering through most of the sides, so the two of us had more trouble than the others, me especially, as NC appears to have acquired a tapeworm. Thus, behold the aftermath:



Yeah, I know, kind of pathetic. We tried. Honestly, we did. Next time (oh, there will BE a next time), we'll do better. There was some talk of dessert, since one of the signature items is chocolate cake, served with a glass of milk. And we all know how BMG feels about dessert with milk. However, we decided against it, probably for the best.

Thus ended our adventure of non-Daily Showing, drinking, and the excessive stuffing of our faces. Back to Jersey City we went, to head home and watch the season finale of "The Office" on my TiVo.**

Next up at AbS - MD's Birthday celebration at Daryl Wine Bar.

*That, and while we were waiting on line, they treated us to such delicious sound bites as, "social conservatism is bigotry" and "McCain is pandering more than the other candidates." There were some other choice words spoken, but mostly we were trying to ignore the douche-y McDouchersons, which I apparently did a pretty good job of doing, since I have no recollection of any other word-vomit they uttered.

**And what an incredible disappointment it was. And NOT because of Jim and Pam, I could care less about those two at this point.