Sick comedy was a pejorative term that was made up by the mainstream weeklies Time and Life to attack the new style of comedy/satire that was affirming in the United States in the late 50s.^[1] Back then, the mainstream comic taste in the United States until the 50s was mostly based on more innocuous forms, like the Bob Hope style. In contrast, new comedy brought elements that were innovative in that context: cynicism, social criticism and political satire. The pejorative labeling "sick comedy" was a reaction of the traditional media at the topics that sick comedy was addressing, which once were seen as highly unusual, inapropiate and controversial.^{[citation needed]}

Lenny Bruce in 1959, guest at the first airing of the Playboy's Penthouse show, reported that Time made an article indiscriminately grouping seven new comedians, labeling them as "sick comics"; they were Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl (an author of political satire), Shelley Berman (considered by Bruce a mediocre comedian), Jonathan Winters, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, and Tom Lehrer.^[2]

Script doctor Daniele Luttazzi says: "the term sick comedy then ended up being used to encompass a bit of everything: the humor of the Mad magazine as Jules Feiffer, the cartoons by Charles Addams as the monologues by Mike Nichols and Elaine May, the traditional comedy by Shelley Berman and the hipster comedy of Dick Gregory."^[1]

When Time magazine labeled Lenny Bruce as a "sick comic", he replied: "The kind of sickness I wish Time had written about, is that school teachers in Oklahoma get a top annual salary of $4000, while Sammy Davis Jr. gets $10,000 for a week in Vegas."^[3]

References[link]

See also[link]

• Black comedy
• Gallows humor

External links[link]

• The Lenny Bruce Originals (archived)
• Lenny Bruce and Let The Buyer Beware (2004), 7-1/2 Hours Of Mostly Unreleased Lenny

Anna Faris
Faris at the 84th Academy Awards Red Carpet 2012
Born	Anna Kay Faris (1976-11-29) November 29, 1976 (age 35) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Ben Indra (2004–2008) Chris Pratt (2009–present)

Anna Kay Faris^[1] ( /ˈɑːnə ˈfærɨs/; born November 29, 1976)^[1] is an American actress and singer. She is known for her starring role in the Scary Movie film series, as well as roles in The Hot Chick (2002), Lost in Translation (2003), Just Friends (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Smiley Face (2007), The House Bunny (2008), Take Me Home Tonight (2011),What's Your Number? (2011) and The Dictator (2012). She provided voice acting in the animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and was a recurring character on the television sitcom Friends.

Early life[link]

Anna Faris was born in Baltimore, Maryland.^[1] Her mother, Karen, was a special education teacher^[2] at Seaview Elementary School^[3] in Edmonds, Washington, where Faris was raised. Her father, Jack Faris, is a sociologist who worked at the University of Washington as a vice president of internal communications^[2] and later headed the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association.^[2][4] She has a brother, Robert, who is also a sociologist and a professor at the University of California, Davis.^[4][5] At age 6, Faris moved with her family to Edmonds, Washington.^[3] Her parents encouraged her to pursue acting when she was young,^[6] and she gave her first professional acting performance at age 9, in a three-month run of Arthur Miller's one-act play Danger: Memory! at the Seattle Repertory Theater. She went on to play Scout in a production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Issaquah, Washington, Village Theatre, and played title character in Heidi and Rebecca in Our Town. At 14, while attending Edmonds-Woodway High School, she appeared in a frozen-yogurt TV commercial. After graduating from high school in 1994, Faris attended the University of Washington and earned a degree in English literature.^[3]

Film career[link]

Her first film role came shortly after college, in the independent production Lovers Lane (1999), in which she played an ill-fated cheerleader. Her breakout role came the following year in the horror-film parody Scary Movie (2000). She gained further popularity after she received the role of the recurring character Erica, the mother whose twin babies are adopted by Chandler and Monica Bing, in the final season of the American sitcom Friends. She said she was "cast last-minute" in the film Lost in Translation (2003), in which she played an actress promoting an action movie.^[7]

Faris at the premiere of Observe and Report at the 2009 South by Southwest Festival

Faris appeared in the film Waiting... (2005), with Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long. That same year she appeared again with Reynolds in Just Friends, playing a supporting role as a pop-diva singer named Samantha James. Also that year came Faris's role as LaShawn Malone in Brokeback Mountain. Faris starred with Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson in My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006). In 2007, she played in Mama's Boy, with Jon Heder, Jeff Daniels and Diane Keaton, and starred in 2007's Smiley Face, a role that won her "Stoner of the Year" at High Times magazine's Stony Awards, in Los Angeles, on October 13, 2007.^[8]

In 2008, she produced and starred in The House Bunny, about a retired Playboy bunny.^[4] In the summer 2007 season of HBO's Entourage, Faris guest-starred as herself in three episodes. She also made an appearance as herself in a video on eatdrinkordie.com with Internet wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk. Faris co-starred as the cosmetic counter employee on whom Seth Rogen has a crush in Jody Hill's 2009 comedy, Observe and Report.^[9] After that, she co-starred with Bill Hader providing voices for the animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, in which she played weather reporter Sam Sparks. In 2010, Faris starred in Yogi Bear, playing Rachel, a nature documentarian who follows the antics of a bear in fictional Jellystone Park.^[10][11]

In 2011, she appeared in the comedy Take Me Home Tonight, playing Topher Grace's character's twin sister.^[12] She starred in What's Your Number?, released in 2011. The film was a romantic comedy based on Karyn Bosnak’s book 20 Times a Lady.^[13]

In 2012, she starred opposite of Sacha Baron Cohen in The Dictator, a satire which followed the deposed dictator of Wadiya, as he lived out temporary exile in the United States.^[14]

In the media[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2012)

Faris has appeared on the covers of Raygun, Playboy, Self, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines. She was listed as No. 57, #39, and No. 42 in Maxim magazine's "Hot 100" in 2004, 2009, and 2010 respectively. In 2009, she was ranked No. 60 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World", and ranked No. 96 in 2010. Ask Men featured her as No. 78 on "100 Most Desirable Women in the World" in 2009.

In 2010, Cosmopolitan magazine named her "the Cosmo’s Fun Fearless Female of the Year" – stating that “She makes us laugh – and cringe – by pushing the limits of comedy in a way no other actress can."

Personal life[link]

During filming of the 1999 independent horror film Lovers Lane in London, Faris met her first husband, Ben Indra.^[3] They began dating in that year and were married in June 2004. She filed for divorce in April 2007, citing irreconcilable differences.^[15] As part of their divorce agreement, Faris agreed to pay Indra $900,000 in addition to other property and acting royalties.^[16] The divorce was finalized in February 2008.^[17]

Faris met her second husband, actor Chris Pratt, on the 2007 set of Take Me Home Tonight.^[6] They became engaged in January 2009,^[18] and married on July 9, 2009 in a small ceremony in Bali.^[19] In May 2012, the couple announced that they are expecting their first child.^[20]

Filmography and awards / nominations[link]

Other awards[link]

• 2012 CinemaCon Comedy Star of the Year Award^[22]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anna Faris

• Anna Faris at the Internet Movie Database
• Onion A.V. Club interview

Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a former South African cricketer, and the World Cup winning coach of the Indian cricket team. He played 101 Test matches and 185 One-day internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004, mainly as an opening batsman. His half brother Peter, also played provincial cricket for Western Province, and then later for the South Africa cricket team which included the highlight of the Cricket World Cup in 1992.

Playing career[link]

Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He retired from international cricket in 2004 after crafting a match-winning 76 in his final innings, against New Zealand. Against the same country he had made history by becoming the first ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches.

Over the years, he gained a reputation as being a sturdy batsman in both Test cricket and one-day cricket. He could up the tempo of an innings if he needed to, but more often than not he simply waited for the bad ball, much like Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. He was also a reliable fielder. Kirsten held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis. He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations. He made a score of 275 against England as a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on at Kingsmead, still stands as the second-longest innings (in terms of duration) in Test history.^[1] The high score was later surpassed by Graeme Smith when he made 277 against England in 2003. He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International; 188 not-out made against the United Arab Emirates during the 1996 World Cup, which is the sixth^[2] highest innings of all time in One-Day International cricket, and the highest score in World Cup cricket history.

Coaching career[link]

India (2008-2011)[link]

After retirement, Kirsten organized his own cricket academy in Cape Town.^[3] In November 2007, it emerged that Kirsten was a candidate for the vacant post of Indian coach.^[4] The BCCI offered him a two-year contract for the post, and despite voicing reservations^[5] about concerns he had about having the full support of India players, he confirmed he would be taking the job on 4 December.^[6]

He officially started as coach on 1 March 2008. However, he travelled to Australia with India beforehand during the test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March–April 2008 which was drawn 1-1. Also, he coached India to the finals of the Kitply Cup and 2008 Asia Cup (India lost both the finals). During his tenure as Coach of India, Indian cricket team won a home series against Australia beating them 2-0. Apart from clinching the Border-Gavaskar trophy, he also coached India to its first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka and India's first One-Day International series victory against New Zealand in New Zealand after 40 years. India also won the Compaq Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals on 14 September 2009 by 46 runs. A highly accomplished batsman himself, he has brought in a considerable amount of improvement in the batting performances, which is largely associated with his ability to instill better confidence among younger players.

Gary Kirsten has been praised by all players for improving/enhancing their playing techniques, motivating them and discussing tactics that can be deployed on the field. The results could be clearly seen within months. He is considered the key force behind the clearly visible performance improvement in all players. In 2010, Prior to the start of India's tour of South Africa, Indian captain M.S. Dhoni described him as "The best thing to happen to Indian cricket."

World Cup 2011[link]

After the tour of South Africa, which India drew 1-1 in the Test series lost 3-2 in ODIs, Kirsten announced he would not renew his contract with BCCI because of family commitments. Kirsten often stated that he wanted to spend time with his two growing sons, Joshua and James, and wife and said three years away from home was long enough. Immediately after the announcement Kirsten was linked with joining South Africa as their coach as the South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl also announced his contract would end after the World Cup as well.^[7] Kirsten ended his tenure as coach after India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare on 2 April 2011 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India. During the celebration, he was carried around the ground by Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli to show their respect.

His term as coach to the Indian side has come to an end with the Indian team's victory amidst various media reports of very lucrative offers from various quarters from the cricketing world. But he has cleared the air by adopting a modest approach on his further availability as coach to the Indian team by saying that he has no offer and he wanted to say goodbye to India for the reasons that he wants to spend time with his family.

South Africa (2011 – present)[link]

On 5 June 2011 Kirsten was appointed the full time coach of the South Africa national cricket team for a term period of two years. His first decision was to name AB DeVilliers as the new captain for the limited overs game, replacing Graeme Smith who remains as the Test side captain. Kirsten began his term as coach on 1 August and his first assignment will be a home series against Australia. He took over from Corrie van Zyl, who was an interim coach for 14 months after Mickey Arthur resigned following the home series against England in 2009-10.

Business interests[link]

In 2007, Kirsten joined Paddy Upton and Dale Williams to form a company called Performance Zone.^[8] The focus of the company is to work with individuals and teams in business and sport, bringing out their clients' best performance. When Kirsten was appointed Indian coach and Upton Indian Mental conditioning coach on a two year contract, they decided to continue the business. Its first project, post Kirsten taking on the Indian coach role, is the creation of garykirsten.com.^[9]

References[link]

v t e South Africa squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Cronje (c) 2 Adams 3 Cullinan 4 de Villiers 5 Donald 6 Hudson 7 Kallis 8 Kirsten 9 Matthews 10 McMillan 11 Palframan (wk) 12 Pollock 13 Rhodes 14 Symcox

v t e South Africa squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Kirsten 2 Gibbs 3 Kallis 4 Cullinan 5 Cronje (c) 6 Benkenstein 7 Pollock 8 Rhodes 9 Boucher (wk) 10 Donald 11 Crookes 12 Dawson 13 Klusener 14 Elworthy 15 Boje Ntini was named in the original squad, but was replaced on 23 April 1999 by Dawson

v t e South Africa squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup 1 Pollock (c) 2 Boucher 3 Boje 4 Dippenaar 5 Donald 6 Gibbs 7 Hall 8 Kallis 9 Kirsten 10 Klusener 11 Langeveldt 12 Ntini 13 Peterson 14 Rhodes 15 Zondeki 16 Smith Replacement for Rhodes

v t e India squad – 2009 ICC World Twenty20 3 Harbhajan 7 Dhoni(c) 45 Rohit 12 Yuvraj 84 Jadeja 28 Yusuf 5 Gambhir 30 Ojha 9 R. P. Singh 29 Ishant 48 Raina 46 Sehwag 63 Irfan 34 Zaheer 1 Karthik 8 Praveen Coach: Kirsten

v t e India squad – 2010 ICC World Twenty20 3 Harbhajan 7 Dhoni(c) 45 Rohit 12 Yuvraj 26 Jadeja 28 Yusuf 5 Gambhir 24 Chawla 08 Vijay 64 Nehra 48 Raina 46 Yadav 23 Vinay 34 Zaheer 1 Karthik 8 Praveen Coach: Kirsten Praveen Kumar was injured and replaced by Umesh Yadav halfway through the tournament.

v t e India squad – 2011 Cricket World Cup (2nd Title) 3 Harbhajan 5 Gambhir 7 Dhoni (c & wk) 10 Tendulkar 11 Chawla 12 Yuvraj 13 Munaf 18 Kohli 28 Yusuf 34 Zaheer 36 Sreesanth 44 Sehwag 48 Raina 64 Nehra 66 Ashwin Coach: Kirsten Praveen Kumar was injured and replaced by Sreesanth.

Steve Porter (born c. 1978)^[1] is a music video producer, remixer and DJ originally from Amherst, Massachusetts. Porter, who began producing music at the age of sixteen while attending The Williston Northampton School, was discovered by Chris Fortier in 1999^[2] and was signed to Fortier's Fade Records label. Since this time he has toured the world extensively on DJ tours and has released numerous remixes and original productions using his own name and monikers Chop Shop, Driven Child, Saturated Fatty, HDF & Bons and Agent 001 with fellow Boston DJ/producer Eli Wilkie. Porter placed #2 in the DJ Times "America's Best DJ"^[3] award and has been consistently ranked among the worlds top dj's in numerous^{[weasel words]} polls.^[4]

He calls the blend of various genres of dance music "Porterhouse." 2005 saw the release of Homegrown, a DJ-mixed artist album on FDS Recordings. In 2006 he released the "Porterhouse" compilation which included many of his close friends productions in the mix. In 2007, Porterhouse 2 was released on EQ recordings from Australia.

Music Video Remixes[link]

Slap Chop Remix[link]

Porter made a music video remix of the original Slap Chop infomercial, dubbing it "Rap Chop". After posting it to YouTube on April 25, 2009, it quickly spread over the internet to become famous. As of November 6, 2010, it has been viewed 11,628,274 times, reached #16 as the all time Top Rated, #3 all time Top Rated in Comedy, #14 Most Viewed and #1 Top Favorite. In July 2009, in an apparent deal between Porter and Vince Offer, the "Rap Chop" was made into a real infomercial that began airing nationwide.^[5][6] Porter's original remix included footage from the movie Breakin'. However for the national infomercial, the Breakin' footage was replaced with a female dancing and someone dressed in a pink bunny rabbit costume dancing. This was because the rights to use the Breakin' film footage either couldn't be obtained or were not sought.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, the success of Porter's "Rap Chop" remix landed him a job doing remixes for FedEx.^[7]

Porter followed up his "Rap Chop" music video remix on May 15, 2009 with a music video remix of the original ShamWow! infomercial, dubbing it "Jam Wow". After a Televised Commercial was made on October 21, 2009 it was renamed the "Shamwow Jam". The Shamwow Jam commercial is currently^[when?] being aired.

Press Hop[link]

In June 2009, Steve Porter released "Press Hop". Featuring footage of Allen Iverson and his infamous 'practice' press conference, the video quickly spread virally and has gathered over 3 million hits on YouTube. It also features footage of Mike Gundy's famous 2007 rant,^[8] as well as Jim E. Mora, Joe Namath and Terrell Owens.

Press Hop 2[link]

After the overwhelming^[quantify] success of the original Press Hop, Steve Porter was asked by ESPN to create a sequel. "Press Hop 2" aired in July 2010 and featured Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Randy Moss, and various clips from LeBron James' "Rome Wasn't Built In One Day". In addition to the actual video, Steve Porter was featured in E:60's "Behind The Scenes of Press Hop 2" that gave a sneak-peek as to how he creates his viral hits.

Other Television Work[link]

Steve Porter has also developed video remixes for a variety of television programs and networks including E!, VH1, ABC, TeenNick and more. He has also worked for a variety of brands to help create unique advertisements. Lotus, Shamwow!, Ultra Music Festival and Mighty Fine Burgers have all received treatments.

NBA Playoff Ad Campaign[link]

In Spring 2010 Steve produced the NBA's ad campaign in conjunction with the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners.^[9]

The material in the ads spans years of NBA playoff history and compiled some of the most famous names to ever play. Airing during commercial breaks throughout the playoffs, the videos were "Amazing is Unity", "Amazing is Belief", "Focus!", and "Steppin' Up!".

Other commercials at this time had titles such as "Where Clutch Happens", "Where Defense Happens", "Where Sixth Man Happens", and "Where Determination Happens".

During the 2010 NBA Finals, two new commercials were created and aired featuring footage from the previous rounds of 2010 playoff games that had been played. Both "Amazing is The Journey" and "Amazing is The Finals" were well received^{[by whom?]} viral hits and captured the excitement and emotion^{[peacock term]} of the NBA Finals.

Steve was mentioned by Howard Stern in lieu of a new mix he released featuring clips of actor Seth Rogen. The mix was played during Rogen's appearance on The Howard Stern Show on January 9, 2012.

NFL Sunday Countdown[link]

In advance of the 2010 NFL season, Steve Porter was asked to create a series of videos for the NFL Sunday Countdown program. Each video would be short in length, but would highlight storylines from the NFL season as it progressed. Early season videos featured Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, as well as Philadelphia Eagles members Andy Reid, Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb. Another video featured quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Eli Manning prior to the second "Manning Bowl" game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants.

Randy Moss and "One Clap"[link]

On October 31, 2010, NFL Sunday Countdown aired Steve Porter's "One Clap" during a game between the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings. The video, which features wide-receiver Randy Moss, was an instant viral hit and quickly accumulated one million views on YouTube and was featured on variety of sports programs on ESPN and TSN in Canada. Shortly after the game and the initial airing of the video, Moss was waived by the Minnesota Vikings, thus creating additional online buzz.

Other projects[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2012)

In addition to his work with the National Basketball Association and ESPN, Steve Porter's company Porterhouse Media is producing^[when?] various tv spots for Hockey Night In Canada.

Maxim Magazine tapped Porter to create a mashup of the "Hometown Hotties".^[when?]

Japanese game developer Konami commissioned Porter to create material for their Xbox home console releases of DanceDanceRevolution. Thus far, he has submitted 2 original songs ("Somebody in Da' House" and "Sockem"), as well as a remix of the fan-favorite Konami original song, "Put Your Faith In Me".

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2005 Homegrown
• 2006 Steve Porter Presents Porterhouse
• 2007 Steve Porter Presents Porterhouse Volume 2
• 2008 "Steve Porter presents PH Recordings" for IDJ Mag
• 2009 The Control EP
• 2009 You Play to Win The Game

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official djsteveporter on Twitter
• Official YouTube channel