Jon Glaser Movies

A not-unexpectedly raunchy and iconoclastic animated series from the Comedy Central mills, the half-hour Freak Show chronicled the adventures of "The Freak Squad", a superhero aggregation consisting of deformed and misshapen sideshow performers. Sent out on low-priority missions by the Pentagon, the Freak Squad hoped thereby to save the world, but usually succeeded only in living up (?) to their motto: "Failure is not an Option. It's a Guarantee." The main characters included Tuck and Benny, Siamese twins with the ability to separate ("up to 40 years at a time"), who wasted a lot of their time bickering pointlessly; The Bearded Clam, the female spawn of eco-terrorists and the author of "The Anarchist's Guide to the NFL", whose specialty was spitting lethal "bitch juice"; Primi the Premature Baby, a red-hued aberration still attached to its umbilical cord, who was scared of "loud noises and Jews" and whose weapon of choice was strategic projectile vomiting; The World's Tallest Nebraskan, aka Orlando Jones Wilson, whose talents included shrinking to six inches, performing unusual sex acts, and spewing dull, xenophobic homilies; and Log Cabin Republican, a gay GOP member who periodically transformed into Burly Bear, a leather freak with awesome powers in his carefully manicured hands. Created by Arrested Development veteran David Cross and Home Movies alumnus H. Jon Benjamin, both of whom also provided character voices, Freak Show was unveiled on October 4, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A 15-minute component of Cartoon Network's cutting-edge "Adult Swim" weekend block, the CGI series Lucy, Daughter of the Devil was described as a "family show"--neglecting to mention whose family. Heroine Lucy was the 21-year-old daughter of Satan Himself, who had persuaded the girl's human mother to bear his child in exchange for a Datsun 280-XS. Since he was obliged to remain close to the "home office", Satan could only carry on a long-distance cell phone relationship with Lucy, who'd relocated to San Francisco. Rebelling against her heritage, Lucy--a normal human in every respect except for her horns--shocked her father by dating a radio DJ named Jesus. Satan's outrage was understandable, since this particular Jesus was the genuine, bonafide Son of God, and any romantic relationship with the Messiah and Lucy would spoil her chances of taking over the family business. Meanwhile, the Vatican had targetted Lucy for extinction, sending out a "hit squad" known as the Specical Clergy--consisting of two priests, Giuseppe and Benetti, and a nun named Mary, the deadliest member of the trio. Other characters included Satan's personal assistant Becky, aka The Devil's Advocate; Jesus' best friend and closest associate, the eternal yes-man Judas; and Bob Whitehead, a Satan-worshipping senator with presidential aspirations. The series was cocreated by Home Movies' Loren Bouchard, with several of Bouchard's longtime associates (H. Jon Benjamin, Sam Seder etc.) supplying the voices. Introduced as a one-shot segment on October 30, 2005, Lucy, Daughter of Satan officially joined the Adult Swim lineup on September 9, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" co-anchors Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-star in this baby-fever comedy about a single, career-oriented woman who previously put parenthood on hold, and is forced to hire a surrogate mother when she discovers there is only a one-in-a-million chance that she will be able to get pregnant. Kate Holbrook (Fey) is a 37-year-old business executive who has always put her professional life before her personal life, but these days her biological clock is ticking louder than ever before. As with everything else she has accomplished in life, Kate is determined to have a child on her own terms. Unfortunately for Kate, the chance of her ever becoming pregnant is slim to none. Undaunted, a willful Kate drafts South Philly working-class girl Angie Ostrowiski (Poehler) -- a woman who may just be her polar opposite -- to be a surrogate mother. Subsequently informed by the head of the surrogacy center (Sigourney Weaver) that her surrogate is indeed pregnant, the excited mother-to-be soon purchases every child-rearing book she can find and excitedly begins the nesting process. But life hasn't quit throwing Kate curveballs just yet, because when a pregnant Angie shows up on her doorstep with no place to live, the woman who once thrived on order finds her life descending into chaos. Now, as Kate attempts to transform Angie into the ideal expectant mother, this odd couple will discover that families aren't always biological, but occasionally formed through friendship as well. Writer Michael McCullers, who authored the screenplays for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Undercover Brother in addition to working on Saturday Night Live, makes his feature directorial debut with a self-penned screenplay. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide