In the top right corner of ChuckleDumper.com, you can find what we call the Dump of the Day. It's where we feature the hottest humor video of the day, typically hours or days before it makes it way across the web.

On a normal day, selecting the DOTD is an obvious choice, but today wasn't a normal day for viral videos. It was a huge day. There were no less than four videos that, on any other day could have been selected. That's why I wanted to send out a quick Myspace blast and draw attention to the three that we didn't make DOTDs.

"The Last Days Of Dr. Wily" by Old Rich People (Direct Link: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/site/id/7165/)

"Facebook Gangsta" (Direct Link: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/site/id/7171/)

"O'Doul's" by Olde English (Direct Link: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/site/id/7179/)

And the video we did choose, "Help the Police" from the British Comedy "Rush Hour" (Direct Link: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/site/id/7170/)

Seriously, it could've been any of those. Check them out and let us know if you think we made the right choice.

-Jack

Our site broke the story to the comedy world yesterday that "The Chaser's War on Everything," the popular and terrifically funny Australian comedy troupe, is in talks with Fox to create a pilot and bring their show here to America. As a longtime fan of The Chaser, it's something I'd love to see, but it raises an interesting question. Why are British and Aussie acts currently doing so well in America?

I don't want to imply that this foreign comedy invasion is a bad thing - I personally think it's great for comedy as a whole, and music experienced the same phenomenon years ago. But it's a trend that I think is worth some analysis. When I consider the successes of Ricky Gervais, Eddie Izzard, Craig Fergison, Flight of the Conchords, Russell Brand, Billy Connolly, and now The Chaser, I can't remember a time when the comedy climate was so favorable to foreign acts.

We'll probably end up talking about this on the radio show Thursday night, but don't feel like you have to wait 'till then to share your thoughts. I'd love to know what your take is.

-Jack

If you didn't get a chance to read ChuckleDumper.com over the weekend, radio personality Kidd Chris was fired on Friday. (Direct link: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/05/report-cbs-radi.html). Unless you're from Sacramento or Philly, you probably have never gotten the chance to hear his show, but you may be familiar with his work. He's best known for his prank calls, particularly the ones to OJ Simpson, which have been played on radio shows nation wide. He's one of the few radio hosts that had a warm on-air relationship with both Stern and O&A. In short, he's one of the good guys in radio.

So far, Kidd Chris hasn't made any public comments on the firing, but I can't believe he's taking it lying down. If anyone in the Philly area knows what the action plan to get behind him is, give me a heads up so ChuckleDumper can help get the word out.

A much happier story that ChuckleDumper broke to the humor world over the weekend, improv and stand-up comic Aziz Ansari has landed a recurring role in Scrubs (Direct link: http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/16/three-new-interns-coming-to-scrubs/). I guess that means Crash Test, the show he hosted at the UCB here in New York before Human Giant got picked up, won't be coming back any time soon, but it's good to see that sometimes Hollywood still rewards true talent.

Two quick interview notes: Our pals over at Stage Time magazine just published an interview Brian and I did with them some time ago. We chat about what we're trying to with ChuckleDumper and comedy as a whole. Really good stuff worth checking out (Direct link: http://stagetimemag.com/standup/?p=704). And Brian's interview with Tom Shillue goes up tomorrow morning, so you've got that to look forward to.

-Jack
ChuckleDumper.com

Ever wonder what Ted Alexandro finds funny? Ever wonder what he thinks about the state of comedy? Ever wonder what he looks like naked? Well the interview with him on ChuckleDumper.com today answers two thirds of those questions, so check it out.

Every Tuesday morning we'll be picking the brain of another comic, giving you an inside look at how top stand-ups approach their comedy, deal with uncomfortable situations, and view the business as a whole. We're focusing on comics' comics - not always guys with the biggest names in the business, but comics who are looked up to by their peers. We'll post the new interviews in the main content area of ChuckleDumper.com, and you can find them on the right side of the page under "Brian's Interviews." Let us know what you think.

-Jack

P.S. - We took a great leap this week in making the site more useful; on the right side of the site in the "categories" box, you can get a up to the minute feed of just the content you're coming to chuckledumper for. Want to check out the latest viral vids? Click "videos." Only care about the latest comedy news? Well click "news." Spiffy, huh?

While I was searching for comedy news worthy of posting on ChuckleDumper last night, I came across an item about noted director Ang Lee casting Demetri Martin as the lead in his upcoming film "Taking Woodstock." (link to story: http://www.variety.com/VR1117984968.html - and yes, ChuckleDumper was the first humor website to break this story). According to the article, he'll play "an in-the-closet gay man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills, who inadvertently sets in motion [Woodstock]."

This story took me completely off guard - I've never really thought of Demetri as a potential actor before. And I'm not even sure why that's the case, because the more I do think about it, the more I think he'll be terrific. On stage he has a presence that somehow allows him to be as engaging when he's doing nothing as he is when he's nailing a punch line. He just has a naturally captivating persona.

I'd be interested to learn how this all happened. It's not the first time someone from that crew landed an unorthodox gig (remember when Zach Galifianakis directed and starred in a Kanye West video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpwgYsYWwdc). I'm sure there's a great story behind this one too.

-Jack

For all of the old ChuckleDumper Radio fans out there, you'll be happy to know the show is returning tonight at 9:30pm Eastern. We took a couple of months off to redesign the website, but now that that's done, we can get back to entertaining the hell out of you each Thursday night.

If you'll be checking us out for the first time tonight and you want to hang in the ChuckleDumper chat room with other listeners, create a free account at ... You don't need an account to listen, only to use the chat room. And we finally got the phoe line working too, so you can call in at 347-246-7854.

We've got a ton of stuff to catch you up on, from the latest comedy news and great audio to the random stuff that fills our minds on a daily basis. So tune in and check it out. See you at 9:30. Listen at ../chuckledumper or head to ChuckleDumper.com for the radio show and all the other funny crap we find.

-Jack

Today we posted a great interview with Moody McCarthy, the first in our series of comedian interviews on ChuckleDumper.com.

Here's the direct link: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/interview/moody_mccarthy

Every Tuesday morning we'll be picking the brain of another comic, giving you an inside look at how top stand-ups approach their comedy, deal with uncomfortable situations, and view the business as a whole. We're focusing on comics' comics - not always guys with the biggest names in the business, but comics who are looked up to by their peers. We'll post the new interviews in the main content area of ChuckleDumper.com, and you can find them on the right side of the page under "Brian's Interviews." Let us know what you think.

That's the headline I woke up to today. Fox News' Roger Friedman is reporting that it's a done deal. When Conan replaces Leno on The Tonight Show in 2009, Jimmy Fallon will be behind the desk at Late Night.

NBC hasn't put out an official announcement yet, and according to the report it won't be announced until next month, so I'm just calling it a rumor at this point. But the fact that Fallon is even being considered really makes you wonder what goes through the heads of TV executives. He's one of those people that is somehow able to make it in Hollywood without anyone really enjoying what he does. And he's also one of those people who, it seems, gets more and more annoying the more you're exposed to him.

Should Fallon get a chance at the Late Night gig, he'll will be entering what is arguably the most challenging late night market ever. Both Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson's shows have been consistently growing larger after getting off to rocky starts. Ferguson's overall ratings number recently surpassed Conan's for the first time ever, casting doubt on how strong of a lead in The Tonight Show will be once he takes over.

Any way you look at this, it seems like a monumentally poor decision.

By the way, the original story is up on ChuckleDumper.com, along with all the comedy news, viral videos, and other funny stuff you expect from us.

-Jack

Sorry that ChuckleDumper has been offline for the past day or so. The server we had the site on was hit by lightning or something, and no one over there could figure out what was wrong.

Long story short, everything is back to normal. We switched to a hosting company that is more familiar sites like ours, and I've noticed that the site is loading a bit faster. Thanks to everyone who sent us e-mails concerned about where we went. I spent most of the afternoon catching up on the updates that we missed while the site was down, so there's tons of great new stuff to check out.

Thanks again for all the support.

-Jack

Big day in radio, and all of the news is up on ChuckleDumper.com. There was a huge blowout this morning on The Howard Stern Show, and the long and short of it is that Artie Lange has resigned. There's some talk that it might be a bit, although it seems most Stern fans think it's real. Either way, we won't find out for a while because Stern doesn't broadcast on Fridays and they're off next week.

Here's the direct link to the article: http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities_blog/2008/04/artie_lange_walks_off_the_howa.html

And audio from the incident this morning: http://www.chuckledumper.com/index/site/comments/6205/

In other news, The Boston Globe is reporting that Opie and Anthony have renewed their contract with CBS, meaning that the first three hours of their show will continue to be heard on terrestrial radio stations across the county.

The direct link to the article: http://news.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/messenger/?p=558&srvc=home&position=recent

ChuckleDumper.com: Your first source for all the viral videos and comedy news you're looking for.

-Jack