Wayne Dorrington

Star Wars as an infographic

• My least favorite Glee character ("Why am I not getting a solo here?!" every episode forever) did an excellent job rocking some "I Will Always Love You" on "Glee" last night, eerily close to Whitney Houston's death. But it was the kind of epic performance that was also a perfect tribute, so I'm cool with it. Now if you'll excuse me, there's dust in my eye. Like, a lot of it. (Hat tip: Jezebel)
  
  


• You can check out some other excellent "I Will Always Love You" covers here.


• In NOT appropriate Whitney tribute news: the National Enquirer hired someone to pose in a re-creation of the hotel room where Whitney died.


• How was your Valentine's Day? Well, 15,000 Southern California Edison customers spent it in the dark — thanks to a metallic Valentine's Day balloon. Oops. On the bright side, perhaps it made for a more romantic evening?


• Chris Brown decided that it would be super awesome to yell at everyone on Twitter about how it's OK for them to hate because he won a Grammy.


• Comedian Louis CK is a trendsetter once again: Jim Gaffigan is following his model and self-releasing his next special as a $5 download. (Hat tip: The Comedy Bureau)


• Feeling funny? Well, too late, you missed the auditions "Saturday Night Live" is holding this week, but hey, keep at it kid! With Paul Brittain leaving midseason and Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis reportedly leaving at the end of the season, looks like we may be getting a wave of new late night comedy blood. Whether they actually get used in any sketches is a different story.


• Finally, there's a preview above, but you should go check out the full image of what "Star Wars" would be if it was an infographic. (Pretty.)

Tom Lewis/KPCC

Comedian Bill Burr gives a tour of Santa Monica

• You should watch this epic tour of Santa Monica and Venice Beach by comedian Bill Burr, the latest in a series of Burr tours shot by Without A Net's very own TV junkie Tom Lewis. I agree with Laughspin; Bill Burr should have his own show on the Travel Channel. (Warning: The language is not safe for work, young ears, or, well, most places.)


• Well this is the most depressing reason ever to keep working forever: Dodgers announcer Vin Scully says he doesn't want to retire because "I don't want to lose my friends," as he says he knows he'll never see his friends at the office again once he retires. "Some people die twice: once when they retire, and again when they actually pass away."


• Zooey Deschanel: Awesome or awful? I'm personally a fan, but I also liked Natalie Portman in "Garden State," so, I'm clearly a sucker for "manic-pixie dream girls," as they're known.


• Ms. Deschanel is also hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend. Check out the awesome promos for her appearance, featuring jazz hands.




• Speaking of Saturday Night Live, you should read about the spectacle of polarizing hipster musician Lana Del Rey's L.A. appearance at Amoeba Records following her album release and recent SNL crashing and burning.


• Great interview with the showrunner from one of my favorite cable series, AMC's "The Walking Dead," including how he first got his start by calling people he knew in New York and asking "Do you have a cousin in Los Angeles?"


• We're hosting an Un-Grammys event here at KPCC tonight (which you guys should all RSVP for free and go to); we'll have more coverage of the Grammys here and on our Twitter account @WithoutABlog this Sunday, but the L.A. Times has a great piece on how the category most important to a comedy nerd like myself has changed! (Comedy. That category is comedy. In case you haven't figured it out yet.)

AFP/Getty Images

• Stephen Colbert announced in FEC filings released at midnight that his Super PAC has managed to pull in over a million dollars in donations. That's a lot of money for a political organization whose primary purpose seems to be comedy, though they're also trying to educate people about the influence of money in politics. Its donors include a number of celebrities, such as Bradley Whitford, who donated $250, as well as California's own lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, who gave $500.


• In other Bradley Whitford news, he's starring in the Pasadena Playhouse's play "Art," which he talked about with KPCC's Patt Morrison last week. My tweet about spotting him, for all you West Wing nerds:
  

  Just saw Bradley Whitford here at work at @KPCC; he's on air right now. He's that @JoshuaLyman lookalike, right? @Pres_Bartlet

  — Mike Roe (@MikeRoe) January 27, 2012



• Adele is back! She'll be making her grand return at the Grammys. Be sure to check us out for Grammys coverage here and on our Twitter.


• The talented but sadly underused Paul Brittain is leaving "Saturday Night Live" without even finishing out this season, after a season and a half of small roles. A recent hysterical sketch he starred in as Lord Wyndemere:
  
  


• In other comedy news, "Key and Peele" debuts on Comedy Central tonight. It's being compared to "Chappelle's Show" in the way it tackles race head on (Real world example: billboards around town saying that if you don't watch, you're racist). You can read our earlier thoughts about "Key & Peele" and watch a video here.


• OK Go is trying to hit every demographic. First up, they'll be featured in a Super Bowl ad this weekend. (Hat tip: Laughing Squid)
  
  
  
  They're also on "Sesame Street" teaching kids about primary colors. (Hat tip: The Daily What)
  
  


• Hey, guys? The Super Bowl is this weekend, and you really, really shouldn't drink or drive. Please. Do this for me. We're pals, right? Kind of? The LAPD is also going to be helping to make sure you don't do such a stupid thing by conducting DUI checkpoints over Super Bowl weekend. (Hat tip: L.A. Observed)


• Finally, something happy: Kristen Bell loves sloths so much that she can't keep it together at the very feeling that a sloth might be near her. I hope that I find something eventually that makes me this happy. (Hat tip: The Mary Sue)
  
  

• Love this year in review video, shot right here in L.A., collecting short bits of video daily and putting them together to tell one person's story over the course of a year. (via The Daily What)
  
• Google has a new Los Angeles headquarters featuring things like virtual reality Google Maps rooms and a building-tall pair of binoculars. (via Boing Boing)
• Adam Sandler was discovered in an L.A. comedy club by Dennis Miller; read this profile on Sandler focused on his time on "Saturday Night Live" (while you try to forget "Jack & Jill"). (via Splitsider)
• Comic book artist Ben Templesmith drawing a comic book page at San Francisco's Noise Pop music festival (an hour and a half video, but if you don't have time, fun to skip around in to see bits of the process). (via Robot 6)
  
• President Obama asking for Betty White's birth certificate (really!). (via the Daily What)
  
• And, because it makes me happy, Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation dancing drunkenly, forever. (via Splitsider)

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Ben Stiller

FILE: Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller attend the HELP HAITI benefiting The Ben Stiller Foundation and The J/P Haitian Relief Organization at the Urban Zen Center At Stephan Weiss Studio on February 11, 2011 in New York City.

Universal Pictures dropped plans Wednesday to offer the new Eddie Murphy/Ben Stiller movie "Tower Heist" for home viewing just three weeks after opening in theaters on Nov. 4. Several theater chains had threatened to not carry the film if Universal went ahead with their plans, expressing concern about the early release leading viewers to decide they should just wait and not go see the film in theaters.

Universal was looking to try out the idea of charging more ($60 in this case) for a chance to view a movie at home far earlier than normal. Get a few friends together and it could start looking like an attractive possibility, much like pay-per-view fight nights. The plan had only called for the film to get an early home release in two cities, but apparently even that was too much for theater owners. There have already been some similar experiments to this with smaller films, but "Tower Heist" would have been the biggest example to date.

Rumors started flying last week that "Tower Heist" star Murphy might be appearing on "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend. Murphy's co-star Stiller hosted the show this past Saturday, but Murphy didn't show. He hasn't made an appearance yet, but with a movie to promote and a career in attempted comeback mode, the possibility remains that he'll show up before "Tower Heist" opens next month.

Murphy allegedly held a grudge against SNL when David Spade took a shot at Murphy's flailing career... in 1989. Murphy's had a ton of success since, and time heals all wounds, so while the timeline for his appearance was off, will we get Murphy on SNL sometime soon? Murphy's representatives denied it to the New York Post, saying that "There are no plans for Eddie to appear on 'SNL' at this time, but perhaps in the future he will make a return." Another source quoted by the Post said that "He hasn't been on 'SNL' for over 25 years, it would be astonishing if he did it."

Of course, Murphy may be looking to astonish. His career has flagged recently outside of family films like the "Nutty Professor" series. He's making some big moves, including hosting next year's Academy Awards; do you think there's gas left in Murphy's comedic tank? And would you have paid 60 bucks to see this movie three weeks after its initial theatrical release?