Not So Funny

(Newser) - Mad TV will bid adieu after 14 seasons of Saturday night sketches, the final nail in its coffin coming from a failure to boost ratings during the presidential campaign, reports Defamer. Fox's Saturday Night Live competitor, which has been on the chopping block for years, will finish up the season before being relegated to DVD collections. More »

(Newser) - The BBC suspended two leading comedians for a prank call that infuriated 18,000 viewers and that even the prime minister called “inappropriate and unacceptable,” the news service reports. Foul-mouthed Russell Brand—who, stateside, offended abstinent teens at MTV's Music Video Awards—and Jonathan Ross told a 78-year-old actor that Brand had sex with his granddaughter. More »

(Newser) - Sacramento Republicans yesterday removed images from their website urging voters to “Waterboard Barack Obama” and declaring “The Only Difference Between Obama and Osama is a Little BS.” State party leaders condemned the content, with a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calling it “completely and totally inappropriate,” the Sacramento Bee reports, but the county’s GOP chairman was unapologetic. More »

(Newser) - Comedian Sandra Bernhard lost her gig at a fundraiser for a Boston homeless women's shelter after making a gang-rape joke about Sarah Palin, reports the Boston Herald. Bernhard joked last month that Palin would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" if she came to Manhattan; the women's shelter heard about it and pulled the plug yesterday. “We were horrified so we decided that we wouldn’t have her at our event,” the director said. More »

(Newser) - What did the researcher say to the reporter? Bad jokes are a good way to lose friends. A Washington State University linguist found lame humor tends to trigger serious hostility, the AP reports. The researcher had her students slip a bad joke into 207 conversations with friends, and 44% of the responses were considered, ahem, “impolite.” More »

(Newser) - After 5 years together, Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman have broken up, reps for the newly minted ex-couple confirmed to Vanity Fair today. "Jimmy and Sarah have and will have no further comment," said a joint statement. Confessions of involvement with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck apparently didn't lead to the split of the talk-show host and actress. More »

(Newser) - Gossip hounds hoping for acrimonious divorce proceedings for Bill Murray aren't getting their wish, TMZ reports. The actor's divorce has already been settled, with papers signed June 13. Wife Jennifer Butler Murray, 42, gets custody of the four kids; Bill, 57, will have to pay child support. Jennifer, who also gets homes in California and South Carolina, had alleged that Murray was a sex-crazed, abusive drug addict. More »

(Newser) - A Dutchman is recovering in a hospital after a mooning backfired, the AP reports. The 21-year-old prankster and two friends were running around the streets of Utrecht with their pants pulled down at the back, police said. The cheeky ringleader pushed his butt up against the glass of a restaurant window, which then broke, resulting in "deep wounds to his derriere," authorities revealed. More »

(Newser) - A hit-making Nashville songwriter was charged yesterday in the pocketknife murder of his producing partner, who—in a headline-grabbing twist out of an old country ballad—is the father of former Saturday Night Live comedienne Cheri Oteri, TMZ reports. Nashville police said Oteri’s father had a "significant laceration” to his wrist, the AP reports. More »

(Newser) - Funnyman Robin Williams and his wife are splitting up after 19 years of marriage, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . The divorce petition, filed by Marsha Williams in San Francisco, cited irreconcilable differences. The pair met when Marsha worked as a nanny for Williams' son from a previous marriage. She later became his personal assistant and produced hits like Mrs. Doubtfire . More »

(Newser) - Comedian Garry Shandling took the stand yesterday and accused Los Angeles private eye Anthony Pellicano of using underhanded tactics to "smear" him. Shandling’s former manager hired Pellicano after promising to “make my life miserable,” Shandling said. The FBI soon told Shandling that the detective had rifled through confidential police files, looking for dirt on him and his friends, and planted negative stories in the media. More »

(Newser) - He’s starred in dozens of movies, hosted the Oscars, and now Billy Crystal can add ‘played for the NY Yankees’ to his resume. The longtime fan enjoyed an early birthday present today as he started for the Bronx Bombers in a spring training game, going 0-1 with a strikeout in his first – and last – Major League at-bat. It wasn’t your typical Hollywood ending, but Crystal had no complaints. More »

(Newser) - The wagon just got a little more crowded. Rosie O'Donnell is off the sauce, in her case beer, Extra reports. The comedian/talk show host/blogger squashed rumors of alcoholism and denied that partner Kelli Carpenter asked her to quit, instead tying the move to an attempt to lose weight. "It's not easy, but I feel better" blogged O'Donnell. More »

(Newser) - Playing multiple characters in a single flick earned Lindsay Lohan and Eddie Murphy multiple Razzie nods this year, the AP reports. Lohan nabbed a worst actress nomination for each of the characters she portrays in split-personality thriller I Know Who Killed Me , and their (lack of) onscreen synergy resulted in another nom for worst screen couple. More »

(Newser) - The author who blasted Jessica Seinfeld for allegedly stealing her cookbook ideas slapped Seinfeld and her funnyman hubby with a lawsuit today, simultaneously accusing Jerry Seinfeld of defaming her character, the Smoking Gun reports. After Missy Chase Lapine accused his wife of plagiarizing her book, The Sneaky Chef, Jerry Seinfeld called her "hysterical" on David Letterman's show, comparing her to "wackos," stalkers, and assassins. More »

(Newser) - Comedian Al Franken's campaign for a Minnesota Senate seat is unconventional, the New York Times reports—and it's serious. Best known for his stint on Saturday Night Live and stingingly partisan attacks on the right, Franken is busy proving he can look senatorial. “Minnesotans know what’s a joke and what isn’t,” an unworried Franken said. Others aren’t so sure. More »

(Newser) - A comedian, actor, talk show host, and last living member of the Rat Pack, Joey Bishop died last night of multiple causes at age 89, CNN reports. Though many critics minimized Bishop's role, Sinatra termed him "the Hub of the Big Wheel." Bishop hosted Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," acted in Pack originals Ocean's Eleven and Sargeants 3, and even emceed John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration.  More »