Sarah Silverman

Those who have experienced the joy of attending a live performance at the intimate Los Angeles club where Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifanakis, Sarah Silverman, Aimee Mann, and Fiona Apple frequently perform can now find out why it's one of Hollywood's best-kept secrets thanks to this feature collaboration between club owner Mark Flanagan and filmmaker Andrew van Baal. Flashy, MTV style filmmaking techniques are eschewed in favor of a more subdued style that allows the performances to speak for themselves as a variety of performers, including actor John C. Reilly take the stage to do what they do best. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The sixth-season opener of Monk finds obsessive-compulsive consulting detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in full "paranoia" mode as he tries to elude his biggest fan Marci Maven (Sarah Silverman), who details his every move in her own "Monk" website. Marci insists that her idol help clear her pet dog Otto of a posthumous murder charge: Otto is accused of killing a neighbor, each though the mutt died three days before the neighbor did. Try as he might to steer clear of Marci, Monk must concede defeat when the persistent woman wins his detective services at a charity auction. In his efforts to wrap the case as quickly as possible, Monk tries to prove that the dog was framed...a task that would have been a lot easier had not an important fact about the dead neighbor's husband completely slipped Marci's mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour features a night of comedy consisting of over a dozen of the most creative stand-up comics in the country. Filmed before an appreciative crowd at the famous L.A. venue, the program features performances by Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, and many others. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Devastated after being fired by director Woody Allen, actress Annabelle Gurwitch sets out on a soul-searching journey to discover whether getting the axe was the best or worst thing ever to happen in her professional career. Anyone who has been in the workforce for an extended amount of time has likely been there -- one minute you've got a good-paying job that you love, and the next minute you're standing in the unemployment line. When Annabelle Gurwitch got fired by the legendary director of such classics as Annie Hall and The Purple Rose of Cairo, she thought her career was over. Upon turning to her many showbiz pals for advice, however, Gurwitch quickly discovered that she was not alone. In this documentary, Gurwitch enlists the aid of filmmakers Chris Bradley and Kyle La Brache in traveling the country to interview such celebrities as Tim Allen, David Cross, Sarah Silverman, and Jeff Garlin to find out exactly how they dealt with the heavy hand of rejection. Additional interviews with GM workers in Lansing, MI, who were handed their pink slips offer some tales that are tragically comedic and others that seems to reinforce the old adage about one door closing and another door opening, while a visit to job fairs and "outplacement services" show just what the jobless endure on a day-to-day basis. Conversations with the downsizers as well as the downsized offer viewers a chance to explore the topic from both sides as host Gurwitch reminds viewers that sometimes the greatest success stories are born of failure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Star Trek star William Shatner settles into the celebrity hot seat, opening the floodgates for a series of relentless barbs by eager friends and colleagues in this installment of the popular Comedy Central Roast series. The tranya flows, the band rocks, and the insults fly as a series of celebrities including Clint Howard, George Takei, Jason Alexander, Jeffrey Ross, Nichelle Nichols, Fred Willard, Betty White, and Kevin Pollak all line up to take a shot at the man who would boldly lead television viewers to realms where no man, or woman for that matter, had gone before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Jeff Garlin, best known for his role as Larry David's manager on Curb Your Enthusiasm, has directed standup comedy specials for Jon Stewart and Denis Leary, and makes his feature-film debut with his own adaptation of his one-man stage show, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Garlin stars as James, an overweight, depressed actor who does improv at Second City. James lives with his mother (Mina Kolb) and constantly cheats on his diet. His life seems to be in a downward spiral. He quits his acting job on a sleazy prank show, his girlfriend (Rebecca Sage Allen) breaks up with him, and his agent (Richard Kind) dumps him. When he visits his friend's daughter's elementary school for Career Day, he embarrasses himself in front of the attractive teacher (Bonnie Hunt) by rambling inappropriately about his personal problems in front of the kids. He hears about a Chicago-based remake of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty, one of his favorite movies, and the role he seemingly was born to play, but he can't even get an audition. One day, after giving up on Compulsive Eaters Anonymous, he seeks solace in an ice cream parlor, where he meets Beth (Sarah Silverman), who quickly wins his heart by offering him free ice cream, and asking him a sexually provocative question. But his attraction to the sexually aggressive and somewhat demented Beth may bring James more problems than it solves. The film, which features appearances by Amy Sedaris, Dan Castellaneta, Wallace Langham, Roger Bart, Paul Mazursky, David Pasquesi, and Joey Slotnick, had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

This film adaptation of the Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini's opera La Bohème features many members of the original cast. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York's East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger (Adam Pascal), Mimi (Rosario Dawson), Tom (Jesse L. Martin), and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia); Maureen (Idina Menzel) deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne (Tracie Thoms), wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin (Taye Diggs) has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Monk (Tony Shalhoub) and Sharona (Bitty Schram) pay a visit to the set of "Crime Lab S.F.", a popular TV show hosted by Brad Terry (Billy Burke). But this isn't a social call: Monk strongly suspects Brad of murdering his ex-wife Susan Malloy (Nicole Forester). Impossible, Brad insists: Susan was stabbed to death while Brad was arguing with a group of paparazzi--all of whom heard Susan's screams as she died. And if this wasn't an enough of an airtight alibi, Marci Maven (Sarah Silverman), Brad's obsessive "Number One Fan", has stepped forth to confess that SHE killed Susan! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the prom draws near and the popular head cheerleader of Echo Lake High dumps her star quarterback boyfriend in favor of attending the dance with the biggest loser in school, the raging footballer plots murderous revenge in cult animation icon Bill Plympton's darkly satirical take on the teen tragedy radio hits and high-school melodramas of the 1950s and '60s. High-school sweethearts Cherri (Sarah Silverman) and Rod (Dermot Mulroney) are a match made in popularity heaven. When nerdy new student Spud (Eric Gilliland) makes the fateful mistake of offending both Cherri and Rod on his first day at Echo Lake High, his punishment is to serve as Cherri's "slave" until both she and her brutish boyfriend decree that he has made up for his unintentional transgression. Though the mere sight of Spud at first makes Cherri's skin crawl, the unlikely pair soon grow exceptionally close until, one day, love blossoms between them. Upon learning that his onetime sweetheart will now be attending the prom on the arm of the socially awkward Spud, Rod angrily forces their car off of the road on and into the icy waters of Echo Lake as the couple makes their way to the big dance. Though cunningly successful in thwarting attempts made by local authorities to locate the missing teens, Rod soon discovers that sometimes the dead have a curious way of exposing the crimes of their killers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The world's least-employable heavy metal guitarist is entrusted with the minds of upstate New York's best and brightest in this fish-out-of-water comedy. Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, axe-bearer for a fitfully successful bar band determined to win a regional battle-of-the-bands competition. There's only one thing standing in their way: the self-indulgent solos and crowd-diving antics of their "embarrassing" lead guitarist. When his band votes him out in favor of a would-be rock god, Dewey has to make the rent somehow, and after intercepting a call for his substitute-teacher roomie Ned (Mike White), the pot-bellied slacker finds himself in front of a class of elite elementary school students. At a loss for a lesson plan, Dewey takes offense at the pre-teen prodigies' staid musical regimen and makes it his goal to preach them the gospel of The Who, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC -- with the ulterior motive of getting them to compete against his former band for a cash prize. But no matter how willing his pupils, Dewey runs up against the consternation of the school's stern headmistress Principal Mullins (Joan Cusack), the battle-of-the-bands' promoter (Frank Whaley), and not least, his identity-deprived roomie Ned. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Season one of the quasi-sitcom, funny phone call opus Crank Yankers, offers ten half-hour episodes, introducing the puppet denizens of Yankerville, all of whom have a predilection for making annoying phone calls to unsuspecting civilians. All of the calls are real, even if the foam rubber cast is not. Typical cranks on the opening episode finds one of the callers posing as the editor of a book on unusual names, harassing a hapless soul named Bobby Dicks. Another cranker complains to a fast food restaurant about getting beaks in an order of fried chicken, while another calls a phone sex service on behalf of his hard-of-hearing friend. The second episode focuses on shock jock The Nudge, who gets a 7-11 clerk to bellow, "I peed in the Slurpee machine," for all to hear. In later installments, "Batman's Nemesis" demands the phone number of the caped crusader from a 411 operator; an electrolysis center is solicited for information as to how to remove a monkey's hair; and in a running gag, customers of a genuine parcel delivery services are redirected to the insensitive clods at "YPS." Guest stars during Crank Yankers' first season include Lisa Kushell, Jack Black, Wanda Sykes, and David Alan Grier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide