<![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, the foot fist way]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, the foot fist way]]> http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/thefootfistway http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/thefootfistway <![CDATA[Does Declaring Danny McBride The Next Big Thing Doom Him To Making Movies Like 'Semi-Pro?']]> A little-known Hollywood antitrust ruling from the early 1900s—passed to prevent Fatty Arbuckle from an abuse of monopoly power—proclaims that every 15 months, a Next Big Funny Thing must be announced. That coronation is immediately followed by the casting of the new cat's whiskers in every humorous screenplay in existence, where he'll be called upon to play a variety of subtly tweaked takes on the same buffoonish character. Previous beneficiaries of the Doughy-White-Comedian Competition Law include Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, and Will Ferrell, and now, the star of Sundance breakout hit The Foot Fist Way, of whom an LAT headline demands to know, "Is Danny McBride the next comedy superstar?"

In three of the summer's funniest comedies, "The Foot Fist Way,""Pineapple Express" and "Tropic Thunder," the Virginia native is pummeled and tortured, blown up and gunned down, bloodied and humiliated — an oeuvre of movie pain (and moreover, squirmy humiliation in the vein of Ricky Gervais) that has fast-tracked McBride from working the night desk at a Burbank Holiday Inn to co-billing alongside Hollywood heavyweights such as Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen and Ben Stiller, all inside of three years. [...]
The comedian's college buddy David Gordon Green directed McBride in "Pineapple Express" after giving the comedian his sole movie acting credit (prior to "Foot Fist"), a character part in the writer-director's 2003 indie romance, "All the Real Girls." [...]

"The interesting thing about Danny," Green pointed out, "he's never auditioned or gotten a head shot."

We recommend that you take the time to savor these superstar-breakout moments, for they are precious and fleeting—soon to be replaced by an endless parade of foreign-accented, sexually-overactive screen-cretins stringing five-minutes'-worth of choice comic material over 90 minutes of Rob Schneider-boosted filler.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=394127&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[What Was With That Weird Tae Kwon Do Dude On 'Conan' Last Night?]]> Because we here at Defamer are always willing to do our part to dispel myths, hoaxes, and pretty obviously arranged comedy bits on late night TV, we now reach deep into the "Yo Defamer — WTF???" submission box hanging outside HQ, and fish out an index card dropped by one of our confounded readers:

What was that guy on Conan last night???Weird,some tae kwon do dude with NO sense of humor...made me laugh uncomfortably

Funny you should ask, Late Night audience member. That guest, seated alongside Will Ferrell and Rashida Jones, was officially billed as "Fred Simmons, the King of the Demo," a martial arts instructor from Concord, NC. He was, in fact, comic actor Danny R. McBride, who you might recognize from Hot Rod, and who you can catch in upcoming releases Drillbit Taylor and Pineapple Express. (Not to be confused with the stuntman/Underworld screenwriter Danny McBride.) McBride created the role of the bumbling Simmons for The Foot Fist Way, a movie from 2006 that will finally hit theaters on April 11.This Conan appearance was an Andy Kaufmanesque attempt at viral marketing for the upcoming release. So feel free to laugh away, feeling little to no agitation or discomfort!

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