After dozens of movies and TV appearances in films like The Usual Suspects and From Earth To The Moon, Kevin Pollak is going behind the camera with Misery Loves Comedy. The veteran actor will make his feature directorial debut with the documentary that explores the world of stand-up comedy, it was announced today. Launching with a Kickstarter campaign last week, the film is being produced by Becky Newhall of Newaley Pictures and Burton Ritchie and Ben Galecki of Heretic Films. Misery With Comedy will feature interviews with Jon Favreau, Lisa Kudrow, directors Paul Feig, Barry Sonnenfeld and Jason Reitman, Lewis Black, Jason Alexander and Whoopi Goldberg among others. “My hope is that we shed all new light on the pain behind the humor, but also uncover more about the minds and hearts of comedians than any of us think we know,” said Pollak in a statement. The docu is set...
- 9/3/2013
- by DOMINIC PATTEN
- Deadline TV
Before Kevin Pollak had me at “Hand me the keys you #$%^ing @#$% sucker!” he had me at his stand-up. The comedian’s comedian self-deprecating style, uncanny ability to imitate others, and spin said imitations into compelling routines is a special kind of entertainment that rarely ceases to engage. Pollak’s stand-up routine is a special kind of entertainment for Pollak, too. It’s one of two times in his professional career (which spans 50-some-odd movie roles and a handful of television appearances) where he’s had 100% creative freedom, control, and ownership of an idea. So, when’s the other time Pollak’s conceived a project, kept the project safely guarded, and executed the project exactly per his vision instead of reluctantly handing it over to studio execs to later lament how much the whole thing got mucked up under the purview of a design-by-committee Hollywood bureaucracy? On the web. At...
- 3/15/2011
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tubefilter.com
As we close out 2010, AOL has been busier than Congress this month with a flurry of new deals for us to chew on before New Year’s. The latest is a key talent hire in bringing on Amber J. Lawson as the company’s new Head of Video Programming. Lawson will oversee AOL Studios, AOL Video hub, AOL.com and deals with 3rd party production companies making original content for the network. More specifically, she’ll now have about 566 million video streams a month to look after. The hire takes Lawson from her post at online network Babelgum where she was the Comedy Publisher, growing the site’s comedy channel into a respected curation of comedic shorts and series. Notable pickups include Streamy Award-winner Kevin Pollak’s Vamped Out and the popular Kids Reenact series from Landline TV. Much of AOL’s new focus on original web video can be tracked to David Eun,...
- 12/20/2010
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
In his 30-year career, Kevin Pollak has appeared in more than 60 films and created indelible roles in such modern classics as A Few Good Men and The Usual Suspects. His Internet awakening occurred in 2009, when he started his Streamy Award winning weekly talk show Kevin Pollak Chat Show backed by Jason Calacanis (Mahalo). He ventured into the world of Web video with his acclaimed original Web series Vamped Out (it was his directorial debut and he wrote and starred in it as well). Vamped Out returns for season 2 on Babelgum this fall. In a series of interviews about his projects, Pollak shares the story of his evolution and what he loves about this new entertainment medium.
Fast Company: How did Kevin Pollak Chat Show start?
Kevin Pollak: About a year ago, I was visiting Jason Calacanis at Maholo's offices. He was doing a live streaming thing with his disciples,...
Fast Company: How did Kevin Pollak Chat Show start?
Kevin Pollak: About a year ago, I was visiting Jason Calacanis at Maholo's offices. He was doing a live streaming thing with his disciples,...
- 8/16/2010
- by David Lidsky and Patrick J. Sauer
- Fast Company
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show, the Streamy-winning Charlie Rose-style interview web series with titular host Kevin Pollak, is heading to Amazon VOD and Hulu, according to a recent Beet TV interview (below) by Daisy Whitney. The one year-old talk show has become the anchor of upstart web show network that Pollak co-founded, This Week In—and notably the only show on the network without “This Week In” in its title. “Amazon has just made us a crazy sweet deal for the whole library,” said Pollak in the interview. The Amazon deal, Pollak tells us, is apparently set for the entire library for purchase, rental, Video On Demand & digital download, as well as all new episodes. While Hulu has made a similar offer—for the entire library as well as future episodes—the deal has yet to be officially closed. Related News:Babelgum and Kevin Pollak Team Up For ‘Vamped Out...
- 7/20/2010
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
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