Once I received my Bachelors of Science degree in Professional Writing, I headed straight for the door of the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, VT, down the stairs, into my car, and up to Montreal at a 120 mph. My roommate Taylor had been circling the auditorium as I watched the time carefully. According to MapQuest, it would take us about two hours to make it to Montreal from Burlington. I received my diploma at around 11:45 a.m.

The interview with Joe was set for 1, and it was made very clear that if we didn’t get there before 2, the ride might have been in vain. Fortunately, we only passed a sleeping border patrol officer as we made it to the Canadian border in what had to be record time. The front tires on my car were fairly bald, and we were spared rain until we crossed into Canada. It seemed to get heavier and heavier the closer we got to Montreal, but with the exception of one sketchy hydroplaning moment, we pulled into Montreal at 1:12 p.m.

We made it to the Bell Centre–where UFC 113 was being held–and snagged an excellent parking spot right in front for $20 for the day. By the time we made it to the nearby Marriott, where Joe was staying, it was around 1:30 p.m., and I figured we would only get about a half hour for the interview.

Instead, we ended up getting nearly 90 minutes of footage, which had less of an interview feel to it and more of a shooting-the-shit kind of vibe. If it wasn’t for dying batteries, we would probably have a lot more footage, but after spending the better part of a day editing the footage into digestible clips, I think we got plenty of film. The original idea was to cut and edit the 90 minutes down into 10, but given the scope of the conversation and the wide variety of topics covered, it made sense to cut it into parts and let people pick and choose what they want to watch.

If you’re wondering who owns that loud, anonymous voice off-camera, it’s my former roommate, Taylor. That said, I would like to thank Joe Rogan for taking the time to sit down and talk with us. I would also like to thank him for snagging us some tickets to UFC 113, which was easily one of the best cards I’ve seen in awhile. With the exception of the Koscheck fight, every matchup was a brawl and very entertaining. Montreal MMA fans are absolutely nuts and made the experience even better. Also, we’d like to thank Ari Shaffir for the special breath strips, which are partly responsible for Taylor and I nearly driving to the east coast of Canada on our way home. Below you will find the rest of the conversation with Joe Rogan.

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Joe Rogan | Website

I recently sat down with Joe Rogan in his Montreal hotel room on May 8th, 2010. He was there for UFC 113 and a stand-up gig at the Metropolis. What was meant to be an hour interview turned into a 90 minute long conversation between Joe, myself, and my roommate Taylor, who was handling the camera. The above clip is a sample of that discussion, which will be posted in its entirety next week along with ADD friendly clips for those who can’t sit through a 90 minute long video of people talking about stuff. And as far as topics discussed go, we pretty much hit on just about everything. So enjoy the sample clip for now.

Online comedy hasn’t been kind to television studios looking to break in. Remember Turner’s SuperDeluxe or NBC’s DotComedy? FunnyOrDie and CollegeHumor still run the game, but competition’s always bubbling up.

Fox Television Studios and its digital arm 15 Gigs’ have decided they need a more targeted push for their series Iceman Chronicles, so they’ve partnered up with comedy upstart MyDamnChannel, who’s looking to expand its library including such hits as You Suck At Photoshop and IKEA’s Easy to Assemble.

“Fox is really putting some muscle and smarts and money into really solid productions. That caught our attention,” MyDamnChannel CEO Rob Barnett said of his new partner, who worked with production company Drama 3/4 to develop Iceman, which has been on YouTube since last year but has been only been watched a few thousand times. Fox has plans to do more original work with MyDamnChannel.

Debuting its first two episodes yesterday with new ones coming each week, Iceman Chronicles is a dark comedy about a set of murders in a small desert town, a more murderous and funny Twin Peaks. As the town searches for the killer, events become screwier and more outrageous.

For Fox, MyDamnChannel offers a more focused and dedicated audience than Hulu, where a lot of its original series were posted last summer, or YouTube, where thousands of videos get lost in the shuffle. Iceman may have missed its target audience on YouTube. 15 Gigs created a small slate of series last year, some of which racked up some numbers and even expanded, though perhaps not reaching the levels expected.

“We needed that audience to be communicating with,” Rachel Webber, director of digital strategy and development for 15 Gigs.

Meanwhile, MyDamnChannel is looking to further differentiate itself in the crowded field of web comedy. When the site launched in 2007, there were already competitors in place or starting up, not to mention the hundreds of independent comedians on YouTube. MyDamnChannel managed to stick through it and has small built a base of support (with some help from its own YouTube channel). Still, high quality content is rare online and websites must crank out hits consistently.

“You can note the difference right away when looking at a few frames of the Iceman Chronicles and then looking at a few frames of your basic, everyday, throw-it-up-on-the-web video,” Barnett said.

What Barnett said finds inspiring, in spite of the persistent challenge of finding advertisers, is how many entrepreneurs are creating original content for the web. MyDamnChannel gets pitched shows 10 to 15 times day, many more than when the site first began.

“It’s growing, while other forms of media life are all shrinking,” he said. “People are literally unplugging their TV sets.”

Maybe you have ventured to the Rants and Raves section of your local Craigslist. If you have, then you probably spent a few hours reading through the absolutely hilarious mental upchucks and inane arguments that are scattered throughout the page. And since weekends, especially Sundays, are to be days of relaxation here are some Craigslist rants, cherry-picked for your convenience.

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Late night television has from time to time featured shows by comedians of color, particularly in sketch comedy. From In Living Color to Chappelle’s Show, there have been enough success stories for networks to keep mining talent for hits.

But those classic shows are gone, and David Alan Grier’s Chocolate News lasted just long enough for fans to hear its dying gasp, not long enough to gain a following.

Today networks are reaching back to the days of Arsenio Hall and giving comedians and comediennes of color late night talk shows. While CNN’s D.L. Hughley Breaks the News lived a short life, mostly because it wasn’t very interesting, BET’s The Mo’Nique Show, premiered strongly two weeks ago.

That success is good news for Fox, which is looking to Wanda Sykes to revive their lackluster Saturday nights, giving the popular comic her own talk show premiering November 7 at 11pm, two nights before George Lopez’s new talk show airs on TBS. Ever since coming out a year ago, Wanda Sykes’ star has been on the rise. Sykes has been a mainstay on television for the last few years, ever since her short-lived sitcom in 2003. She has a big presence now, with recurring roles on The New Adventures of Old Christine and Curb Your Enthusiasm. HBO is now broadcasting her newest standup program, I’ma Be Me.

The Wanda Sykes Show promises to be the standard grab-bag of late night entertainment, hopefully enlivened by the comedienne’s colorful personality. Sykes will offer her opinions on current events, along with sketches, panels and “a whole lot of folks you wouldn’t expect to find on television,” according to the show’s website. That sounds intriguing! Plenty of people have been on television, so expectations are high.

Fox is only now putting the gas in the show’s promotional engine, starting with three spots released just last week. Enjoy and anticipate.

Not many people know the name Ken Jeong, but they definitely know his face. Ever since his big-screen debut in Knocked Up two years ago, North Carolina-raised Jeong – also known as Dr. Ken – has been a hot commodity, booking nearly two dozen current and upcoming parts in TV and film. I didn’t realize how important he was to American comedy until I went to see Funny People recently (of course, he makes a cameo) and noticed he was in three of the five previews — The Goods, opening today, All About Steve, and Couples Retreat. You’ll be seeing him in the upcoming NBC show Community and it won’t stop there. Even Seth Rogen is less exposed!

How did a 40-ish average-looking Korean-American doctor-turned-comedian manage to book more gigs than the younger, hotter John Cho?

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Recently, a special youngster named Mike Cannon performed at my friend’s Graduation From College party. I’ve known Mike through my collegiate years, and honestly never thought he would amount to much of anything, because who should ever get paid to make penis jokes? As he got sloppier through the evening, he offended most of the parents at the party. When the time came for his set, Mike could barely string a sentence together. And he was right on his game. Mike answered a few questions for us about himself and his comedy career, and his penchant for referencing his awkward attraction to his own penis. Continue Reading

Margaret Cho

“The Cho Show” debuted on VHI Thursday night. It has the same structure as Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List where it shows Margaret at home, doing stand-up and out with her friends. The show features Selene Luna, her assistant, her parents and her glam squad consisting of her stylist, make-up artist and hairstylist. It is very amusing to see Mr. and Mrs. Cho instead of only seeing Margaret’s impression of them. You can see that she is not exaggerating. She says, “I keep them around because old people are a really good source of prescription medication.”Margaret’s assistant Selene is more like her funny sidekick than her employee. Her humor compliments Margaret well.

The first episode is about Margaret wining the Korean of the Year award. Her make-up artist and stylist have a competition to come up with an outfit for her to wear to the awards. The choices are not would you would typically see on the red carpet!

If you are a Margaret Cho fan you will love this show! If you have not experienced her comedy you should check out the show. Then rent her stand up movie “I’m the One That I Want”. VH1 has video extras on the VSPOT .

The Cho Show airs on VH1 Thursdays at 11 PM EST.