Comedy Kings and Queens

(Newser) - Gone is the tabloid that claimed "February Sues for More Days" and "Hide-and-Seek Player Found After 34 Years," but what becomes of its writers? At least one is still missing his calling as an inventor of comedy-news. In Salon , Stan Sinberg recalls how he conceived tall tales for the Weekly World News for 3 years, a calling he considered higher than writing for the Enquirer or penning celebrity gossip. More »

(Newser) - The scene might not be quite so funny this week on spoof news program "The Daily Show" as  comedy correspondent Rob Riggle returns with actual on-the-scene reports from an actual week in Iraq.  Beginning last night the show aired footage shot by Riggle's crew with hand-held cameras while he was entertaining troops with the USO . More »

(Newser) - Ribald teen romp "Superbad" triumphed at the box office this weekend, raking in $31.2 million despite an R rating and a modest budget under $20 million, reports Variety . It marks the seventh biggest opening for an R-rated comedy, edging out Judd Apatow's other summer hit, "Knocked Up," which opened in June and has earned $147 million to date. More »

(Newser) - Tycoon Richard Branson one-upped Stephen Colbert when he threw a glass of water at the fake news anchor on last night's Comedy Central show. Branson was miffed that he didn't get to plug his new airline on the Report, even after christening an airplane for the host. Colbert, always thinking on his feet, retaliated by requesting his own bottle of water and tossing it at the mogul, but viewers say the spat seemed ad hoc and unpleasantly tense. More »

(Newser) - Elizabeth Murray, a painter whose vivid, cartoon-based work was part of a contemporary movement away from minimalism, died yesterday of lung cancer. She was 66. A leading figure in the New York art scene, Murray won a MacArthur genius grant in 1999 and enjoyed a retrospective at MoMA last year. More »

(Newser) - Legendary martial artist Jackie Chan teams up with peppy funnyman Chris Tucker for the third time since 1998 in Rush Hour 3, but critics are panning the film, opening today, as a flat-tire addition to the buddy-comedy franchise. "It’s a generically crummy action flick. It’s ugly. It’s noisy. It’s stupid," declares Manohla Dargis of the New York Times . More »