When a single spotlight illuminated the bottle of Black Grouse whiskey resting on a bar stool center-stage, the 2,800 people in the audience at the Temple Buell Theatre rose to their feet, their deafening applause seemingly cheering the bottle of booze itself until Southern sass-man Ron White casually materialized out of the dark to a generic blues soundtrack. Performing for a mixed audience of pro-military, anti-tax suburban conservatives and city-based, grass-loving comedy fanatics, White exuded a fun-loving poise as he casually delivered his arsenal of anecdotes on sex-toy conventions, getting fucked up with Dr. Phil and dropping a heavy dose of Viagra before his pat-down at the airport.

See also:
- Comedian Josh Blue on the pros and cons of being an "inspiration"
- Ron White on gay marriage, marijuana and opening acts -- including Josh Blue
- Comedian Chris Hardwick on hipsters, sobriety and the true meaning of being a nerd

More »

The official start of summer is over a month away, but the unofficial start is upon us, with the release of the Film on the Rocks 2013 schedule. There's certain to be some controversy over the selection, but as in years past, the Denver Film Society -- led by FOTR Program Director Britta Erickson -- has taken great care in curating a series of both crowd-pleasing and interesting movies. Kicking off with Back to the Future on May 29, the line-up also includes titles like Wet Hot American Summer and Die Hard.

"I think it's a really great combination and caters to an array of generations," says Karla Rodriguez, audience development and social media manager for FOTR. "It's not just movies you want to bring your kids to -- it's movies you want you want to bring your parents to."

See also:
- 2012 Film on the Rocks includes fan-favorite The Notebook, but no Big Lebowski
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Keith Garcia, Denver Film Society
- Best of Denver 2013: Pre- and Post-Movie Party Spot- Sie FilmCenter

More »

His royal highness, Prince.

His Royal Highness Prince Harry spent the day on Sunday enjoying the Colorado scenery -- and hopefully some of our best weed -- while the Prince of Purple played two of his four shows at the Ogden with his new band 3rd Eye Girl (he plays two more tonight). And while the two princes probably won't meet up to party together like it was 1999 -- or, in Harry's case, like it was 1899, since he is supposed to be on his best behavior after his recent, well-memed ass-capades in Las Vegas. Of these two princes visiting our fair state of Colorado, which one deserves a crown more? Here's our comparison.

See also:
- Five things Prince Harry should do in Denver
- Prince is a shining example of creative blackness
- Prince Harry memes offer naked truth about royal's upcoming Colorado visit?

More »

While many comics will play to their political or cultural bases, Ron White is virtually impossible to pin down to any one audience. First rising to fame through the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry The Cable Guy, he became a hero to conservatives with his pro-death penalty and support-the-troops material. White is far from a right-wing pundit, thought, speaking openly about his drug use and belief that everyone -- including himself -- is a little gay. The 27-year veteran of standup backed that up as the producer of the documentary Bridegroom, a story about the struggles of unmarried same-sex couples dealing with the death of a partner -- which recently won the Tribeca Audience Award for Best Documentary).

When Ron White is at the Temple Buell -- this Friday, when he'll be joined by local comic Josh Blue, he'll bring together an eclectic mix of comedy fans who enjoy his brutal honesty. In advance of that gig, we spoke with White over the phone from Texas, and he shared some stories of his early days as a comic, discussed his crossover appeal, and congratulated Colorado for legalizing marijuana.

See also:
- Marc Maron's new TV series will make you want to shoot yourself in the face
- Comedian Chris Hardwick on hipsters, sobriety and the true meaning of being a nerd
- Kathy Griffin talks Cher, Celine Dion and how straight women get laid

More »

Fans of The Crow rejoiced back in 2008, when we heard that it would be up for a remake. (For the two or three of you who didn't see the movie or read the graphic comic-book series, it's about a gothy-hot dead man with eyeliner who returns from the grave to exact bloody-gutsy-gory vengeance on a gang who murdered his girlfriend.) Now, after some hellish pre-production drama with director/lead actor swaps and a distribution lawsuit, it looks like this reboot of The Crow may finally happen, with Spanish filmmaker F. Javier Gutiérrez directing and, as of a few days ago, Luke Evans cast as Eric Draven.

The first version of The Crow got infamous fast when lead actor Brandon Lee was killed on the set -- but even that tragic turn of events wasn't enough to make the movie worth watching, and the terrifyingly horrendous sequels dug its grave. But with this new version, there's a chance that we'll finally get a movie worthy of James O'Barr's dark, tragic comic-book masterpieces. Here are five reasons why The Crow needs to be rebooted -- and done better this time.

See also:
- Five prequel, sequel and remade movies I will watch -- no matter how bad they are
- Nick Cave is supposedly penning The Crow remake
- The new Muppets movie succeeds when following its original story arc

More »

Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in 'O Lucky Man!"

Forty years after it was made, viewers are still split over Lindsay Anderson's 1973 picaresque O Lucky Man!, the second of three films the British satirist made with Malcolm McDowell, who'd already garnered recognition for handling a difficult role as the sociopathic hooligan Alex in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. That division alone kicks O Lucky Man into cultish territory, because either you get it or you don't -- and even if you do get it, most fans agree that it's a tad too long.

See also:
- Repertory Cinema Wishlist: The Duellists
- Repertory Cinema Wishlist: Robert Altman's Nashville
- Repertory Cinema Wishlist: Crossing Delancey

More »

Midget Zombie Takeover

At this point, the zombie genre has seen it all. Fast zombies. Slow zombies. Smart zombies and stupid zombies. Zombie love stories. Animated zombies. Hell, there's even a zombie musical or two. But just when you think there's nothing new under the undead sun, someone finds a fresh twist on the tried and true walking dead. Like, say, little people.

That's right. It's time for the Midget Zombie Takeover.

See also:
- Five ways to fill The Walking Dead-shaped hole in your heart
- Horror auteur Don Coscarelli on meat monsters, Paul Giamatti and getting typecast
- Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer: Boobs, blood and bowling

More »

Chris Hardwick will perform five shows at Comedy Works May 2-4.

In 2013, being called a nerd isn't the insult that it once was. Practically no one uses the term negatively anymore, and there's no shortage of people who proudly wear the nerd badge as a cultural identity. But if there's still such a thing as a king of the nerds, the honor would probably go to standup comic Chris Hardwick (or Peter Jackson). Hardwick's wildly popular comedy podcast The Nerdist is at least partially responsible for the geekster population boom.

In anticipation of his upcoming five-show run at Comedy Works beginning May 2, we caught up with the surprisingly well-dressed Hardwick to get into an ultra-dweeby meta-debate about just who has the right to call themselves a nerd -- while occasionally digressing into topics like hipsters, post-music MTV and the moment Dennis Miller stopped being funny and suddenly became an asshole.

See also:
- Obama talks getting stoned and Conan rips GOP at D.C. Correspondents' Dinner
- Anthony Jeselnik celebrates baby-death, bulimia and domestic violence at DU
- The ten best comedy events in May

More »

Futurama has been canceled...again. Fans are keenly aware that the show was nuked back in 2003 by Fox, then brought back by Comedy Central after it bought the rights to the four movies in 2007. But this season will reportedly be the last one, with the series finale airing on September 4.

Yes, Futurama is yet another television show that has ended -- twice now -- before its time. It's unfortunate when any TV show with creative genius and plenty of potential gets smacked in the tubes before it should. Here are five more television shows that deserved a few more seasons. Apparently someone needs to explain closure to network executives.

See also:
- Ten TV shows you didn't know were set in Colorado
- Ten movies and TV shows set in Colorado -- but filmed somewhere else
- The seven best TV shows set in Colorado

More »

Anthony Jeselnik performed two sold-out shows at DU on Saturday.

The appearance of sociopathic dreamboat Anthony Jeselnik at the University of Denver's Newman Center Saturday was filled with unthinkable rape jokes and reverse-pandering to the backward-hat bros and "Woo!" women who populate the college campus. Despite the fact that nearly half his set was recycled material from his standup special and Comedy Central show, The Jeselnik Offensive, this charming deviant was a hit among the outrage-aficionados who showed up in cultish masses (enough to justify a second show, which also quickly sold out), many of whom seemed delighted to hear familiar material in the way classic-rock fans would their favorite radio hits.

See also:
- Anthony Jeselnik's five most deliciously offensive moments
- Offended: Why Anthony Jeselnik will never be Joan Rivers, or The Onion
- Anthony Jeselnik on his jerk persona, Comedy Central roasts, and why he likes hecklers

More »