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Fans missing the bone-dry wit of “Succession” may finally quench their thirst with Jesse Armstrong’s new HBO satire “Mountainhead.”

While promoting his new adult animated series “#1 Happy Family USA,” Ramy Youssef — one of the leads in the “Succession” creator’s feature film debut — called the project “funny in the same way ‘Succession’ is.”

“‘Succession’ is one of the best comedies ever made — and this film is certainly funny in the same way,” Youssef told Variety on Wednesday night at the “#1 Happy Family USA” premiere in New York. “Jesse’s writing is on another level. It’s really hard to find something of that caliber, so getting to do it was such a joy.”

“Mountainhead” follows a group of billionaire friends as they convene against the backdrop of an international crisis. The ensemble of snowed-in billionaires also includes Steve Carell as Randall, Jason Schwartzman as Souper/Hugo Van Yalk,...

The new adult animated comedy comes from creators Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady and follows a Muslim family in early 2000s America.

It’s the early 2000s America, and the Hussein family is the talk of the town. From the minds of Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”) and Pam Brady (“South Park,” “Lady Dynamite” comes the brand-new A24 series “#1 Happy Family USA.” The adult animated satirical comedy will debut its full first season this Thursday, April 17 exclusively on Prime Video— watch with [a subscription to Prime Video][Priem Video $]!

How to watch ‘#1 Happy Family USA’ When: Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 3:01 a.m. Et TV: Prime Video Stream: Watch with a 30-day free trial to Prime Video From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a Vpn. Everything you need to know to stream ‘#1 Happy Family USA’

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Exclusive: Comedians Matt Rife and Paul Elia have announced a new LowKey Comedy special to premiere digitally on Moment by Patreon on February 16.

A long-running show conceived by Rife and Elia, LowKey sees the pair act as hosts of a night of comedy, performing both written and off-the-cuff material. In amongst their performances, they introduce a number of other stand-ups who do the same, creating a unique bond with the audience through improvised, interview-style riff sets.

This LowKey special, hosted by Rife and Elia, features comedians Ian Edwards, Whitney Cummings, Fahim Anwar, Luenell, Francisco Ramos, and T.J. Miller. Taped at the Troubadour during the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke Festival, the hour is directed by Rife’s longtime friend and collaborator, Erik Griffin. Rife, Elia, and their manager Christina Shams served as executive producers. Watch a trailer above.

Rife and Elia created LowKey in 2020 as a means of staying afloat and...

Exclusive: Rising comedian Paul Elia has set a Christmas Eve premiere date for his debut special, Detroit Player, the first ever shot at the Detroit House of Comedy, which came together over the course of three October tapings. Directed by Elia’s longtime friend Dan Ringey, with whom he previously collaborated on the indie crime thriller Dirty, the special will be available for a month on Mint Comedy.

Elia came to shoot his special after spending years performing stand-up in many unlikely (and awkward) scenarios, in order to pay his rent. He performed in a Dubai mall (and almost got arrested). Soon after, he performed at a private event for Saudi royalty. With Detroit Player, he explores authenticity, censorship and what it means to “hustle” (while avoiding arrests abroad).

Hailing from The LowKey Company & Avesta Entertainment, the special is produced by Bassem Youssef, Azhar Usman and Danny Mooney.

Updated, 10:28 a.m.: Netflix announced on Wednesday that the new comedy special Natural Selection from today’s most discussed comic, Matt Rife, will be debuting on the platform November 15th. Check out a new teaser for it above.

Recently seeing his career launched into the stratosphere after taking off on TikTok, Rife in the special leaves no topic untouched – from crystals to social media trolls – and no audience member spared. The comic exec produced alongside manager Christina Shams, with Irony Point as the production company. Read more about Rife and his new hour below.

Previously, September 8: Comedian Matt Rife has had an astronomical rise.

Last summer, the 27-year-old from North Lewisburg, Ohio struggled to sell a hundred tickets a show. But earlier this year, when he announced his ProbleMATTic World Tour, he sold around 600,000 tickets over the span of just 48 hours.

Now, after two self-released specials, he...

Two months ago, when comedian Matt Rife announced his ProbleMATTic World Tour with Live Nation, he moved around 600,000 tickets over the span of just 48 hours, experiencing the culmination of 12 long years on the road.

Remarkably, this was just the artist presale, with Rife ultimately going on to sell 720,000+ tickets to 300 shows, including eight back-to-back at the Chicago Theatre, six at Radio City Music Hall, and four at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

Comedians Matt Rife and Paul Elia perform at Lowkey Outside

A 27-year-old from North Lewisburg, Ohio, Rife had as recently as the summer prior struggled to sell even a hundred tickets a show, though not for lack of hustle. Perhaps the best encapsulation of his determination to succeed came a few months following the emergence of Covid, when he and comedian friend Paul Elia launched Lowkey Outside. A semimonthly, socially distanced comedy show, spun off from one...

Exclusive: Authentic Talent & Literary Management on Tuesday announced its hiring of manager Christina Shams, a veteran of the comedy world who counts Matt Rife, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Paul Elia, and Jeffrey Jay amongst her clients.

In her new role at Authentic, which will also have her producing, Shams will continue to pursue her passion for scaling the careers of multi-hyphenate artists. She’ll also oversee strategic touring growth for the Authentic comedy department, while enhancing digital opportunities for clients, and will be based out of the company’s Los Angeles office.

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Shams has solidified her reputation as a stand-up touring specialist, with the ability to foster a wide net of opportunities for stand-ups,...

Since early March, when Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic, and businesses across the United States started to shutter, live comedy — like all kinds of live performance — has been virtually nonexistent. In trying times marked by a deadly pandemic, extreme political division and general unease, the coronavirus-related shutdown has left people without the much-needed levity and communal experience that stand-up comedy provides.

The Los Angeles comedy scene’s best-known venues, including the famed Comedy Store, have been unable to open, impatiently awaiting the moment when crowds will be able to return to their seats indoors. In their place, a number of outdoor comedy events have started to spring up.

In July, comedians Matt Rife and Paul Elia set out to create one of these venues — a safe, socially distanced platform where comics can perform after months away from the stage.

The motivation to get stand-up back up: “This is our...

Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay and Norah O’Donnell are among the names from Hollywood and TV news praising what Winfrey called Gayle King’s “calm and steady focus” as singer R. Kelly went ballistic during an interview that aired today on CBS This Morning.

Reaction to Kelly wasn’t so positive.

“Key things we learned from the R. Kelly interview,” tweeted attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents two of Kelly’s alleged victims. “1. R Kelly is a much better singer than he is an actor; 2. He is desperate and distraught because he knows he has been caught. 3. He thinks sexual assault of young girls in the ‘way way past’ cannot be charged. 4. He is guilty.”

Saturday Night Live‘s Chris Redd tweeted that “Aunti @GayleKing lit a fire under Kelz dirty ass,” while attorney and victims rights advocate Lisa Bloom summed up a ubiquitous Twitter reaction: “To show how respectful he is to women,...

Radu Jude’s Scarred Hearts among titles; In Focus strand also revealed.

Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 12-20) has unveiled its competition and in focus titles ahead of the launch of its 22nd edition next month.

The eight features in competition include two world premieres: Ivan Marinović’s debut The Black Pin; and Lukas Valenta Rinner’s A Decent Woman.

The Black Pin, from Montenegro director Marinovic, centres on a priest who finds himself at odds with the other inhabitants of his small, rural parish when he opposes a large property sale. Serbian Vladimir Vasiljević is co-producing.

Austrian filmmaker Rinner, whose Parabellum won the special jury prize at Jeonju and was up for Rotterdam’s Tiger Award in 2015, returns with A Decent Woman, the story of a housemaid working in an exclusive gated community on the outskirts of Buenos Aires who embarks on a journey of sexual liberation at a nudist swingers club.

After winning...

Vicious Circle Films' 'Exit 33' arrives this August on DVD. The Tommy Brunswick helmed slasher project stars horror legend Kane Hodder as Ike and not to mention the gorgeous Antoinette Nikprelaj (below) whom played one of the gang of sexy mermaids recently in Disney's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'. You can catch it when it hits DVD from 2 August across the Us but in the meantime check out the trailer and DVD artwork below along with a naughty topless pic of Miss Nikprelaj. Jerry Reid, Maria Hildreth and Paul Elia all co-star....

Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood) is taking off the mask to star as Ike in the upcoming indie horror feature Exit 33. This is not a turnpike that you want to take! At the end of this highway lies a serial killer, who likes to treat young women like something out of an anatomy class. Antoinette Nikprelaj as Angie and Maria Hildreth as Eva are tied up, dissected and scalped in all sorts of horrifying ways, in the mature trailer below. Fans of the truly terrifying can pick up this traumatizing tale on DVD August 2nd, through Breaking Glass Pictures and this is the day that Hodder shows all his torture skills from a lifetime of participating in horror films.

The synopsis for Exit 33 is here:

"A few miles off Exit 33 lies Ike’s Last Chance Gas, an old, forgotten hideaway where the...