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Priceline / Travel Websites / Last-Minute Travel / Travel Deals / Comedy / → All Tags

Priceline Negotiator Goes Animated with Seth MacFarlane Cartoons

Among the videos and shorts that funnyman Seth MacFarlane has sprinkled around the intertubes, the cartoons in his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy are consistently among the most popular. The animated comedy web series - where classic cartoon characters pop up in hysterical albeit disturbing ways - catapulted MacFarlane's SethComedy YouTube channel into Most Watched Channel of the Week when it debuted. There's now a Cavalcade Hulu channel and the first season has even been released on DVD. That kind of popularity practically begs for digital sponsorship and advertising, and online travel agency Priceline has been more than willing to provide both.

The company has just inked a new deal with MacFarlane and - coincidentally - has chosen this month to announced a new and more generous best-rate-guarantee promotion. For a limited time, natch.

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Laid-Off Travel / Recession Travel / Jay Leno / Comedy / Detroit Travel Guide / → All Tags

Jay Leno's Stimulus Plan Hits Detroit

Jay Leno’s one man comedy stimulus plan goes into effect tonight when the "Tonight Show" host plays the first of two back-to-back shows in Detroit-for free. Leno will perform his stand-up act at the Palace of Auburn Hills, located just outside of the Motor City, for those who have recently lost their jobs and can't afford a night out.

"I like Detroit. I think it gets a bad rap," Leno said. "Most people don't have money to spend, or waste, on entertainment. So the idea is come out -- everything's free -- and get your mind off your troubles for an hour and a half."

Already, 15,000 tickets have been given away for each show, which includes free parking and refreshments.

For a recession-proof meal to go with Jay's show, check out Evie’s Tamales, 3454 Bagley St, Detroit. They serve fresh, homemade Mexican food at dirt cheap prices. The average dinner, including beans and rice, is about $5- $6.

Related Stories:
· Jay Leno Shows [Detroit Free Press]
· Detroit Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: ET]

Tourism Marketing / Tourism Boards / Tourism Board Travel / Comedy / Lewis Black / Recession Travel / → All Tags

Cranky Travel: Can Lewis Black Save Aruba Tourism?

Because of their overwhelming dependence on tourism, the islands of the Caribbean have been hit especially hard by the latest global economic bummer. I read in the Economist this morning that the number of visitors is likely to fall by up to a third, a forecast that has prompted the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island to lay off 800 workers and caused investors to pull out of several planned multi-billion-dollar resort complexes. Usually in a business downturn, companies cut their marketing budgets, but there are always a few radicals that double down instead, gunning for visibility in a diminished field. Aruba is doubling down in this recession with a big advertising push that features the grouchy comedian and satirist Lewis Black, and it just might work.

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Comedy / Airlines / Airline Travel / → All Tags

Flying Can Have Its Indignities, But It's Still Amazing

We've got to hand it to comedian Louis C.K. for perfectly summing up our profound ability to dismiss a century of innovation in air travel as our birthright. In this amusing clip from the Conan O'Brien show, he riffs on the guy who complains when the in-flight internet service goes out, even though he just learned it existed ten seconds earlier, and the inevitable "worst day of my life" stories that people share when they've been on a cross-country flight that was delayed by an hour. He certainly has a point: not long ago people risked life and limb to travel long distances, and now we get steamed because the seat doesn't recline enough and we can't get a pillow. It's funny, but it also ignores the other side of the issue, which is that the airlines are as much a beneficiary of the technological advances as we are, and it's the duty of the consumer to demand that service be held to the highest attainable standard. So maybe it's not so ridiculous to whine about extra fees and declining service. The system relies on both sides pushing as hard as they can. All the same, it still amazes me when I get in an airplane somewhere cold and get out a few hours later where the weather is hot. I can't help it, it's just an amazing thing.

[Video: The Economist]

Related Stories
· Louis CK Defends Air Travel [The Economist]
· Louis C.K. [Official Site]
· Comedy Coverage [Jaunted]

Celeb Travel / Comedy / Robin Williams / → All Tags

Funny Travel: Robin Williams Standing up Again

A rising tide lifts all comedians: After a six-year hiatus, Robin Williams is going back on tour with his stand-up act "Weapons of Self Destruction," bravely setting aside his film career which has reaped flicks like "License to Wed" and "August Rush."

"It's an election year, which is basically Christmas for stand-up comics," Williams says, but the show will be mostly a personal affair covering his struggles to stay sane.

The tour kicks off August 25 in Minneapolis and ends November 25--by which time he'll be able to test his new presidential material, knock wood--at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston.

Related Stories:
· Robin Williams Going On Tour [Seriously? OMG!]
· Full List of Tour Dates [Official Site]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Still from "Death to Smoochy": Five Hole Fanatics]

Comedy / Comedy Clubs / Festivals / → All Tags

LOLTravel: Our Picks at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival

Ivan and Jason Reitman opened the final weekend of Montreal's comedy festival last night with reminiscences of working with Bill Murray (Reitman the elder) and turning down "Dude, Where's My Car?" (Reitman the younger).

Our picks for this weekend may not be as funny as "Ghostbusters," but they will make you laugh more than Ashton Kutcher:

Russell Brand: US audiences know him as Kristen Bell's new boyfriend in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" but the British comic, currently filming a movie with Adam Sandler, is poised to hit it big over here any minute now. Fri. and Sat., 9:30 pm, Centaur Theatre

Patrice O'Neal: Some call the former "Best Week Ever" comic confrontational; maybe in his solo show he'll do it in a sweet way. Fri. and Sat. at 11 pm, Theatre Ste-Catherine

Apatow for Destruction: Speaking of "...Sarah Marshall," producer Judd Apatow drags Canuck buddy Seth Rogen for--well, we're not sure exactly, but it's bound to be hilarious. Sat., midnight, Metropolis

Related Stories:
· Just for Laughs Festival [Official Site]
· Remembering George Carlin Travel [Jaunted]
· Comedy Clubs coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of Greg Proops and Ryan Stiles at Just For Laughs: anirudhkoul]

George Carlin / Memorial Travel / Comedy / → All Tags

Remembering George Carlin Travel

Jaunted remembers George Carlin, who looked like our grandfather while saying some very ungrandfatherly things. Murmur the seven words you can't say on television as you visit these places which were key to Carlin's comedic career:

519 West 121st St., New York, NY :: Carlin grew up here in the then-rough-and-tumble NYC neighborhood of Morningside Heights, or what he referred to as "White Harlem." On his website he writes of this address: "First everything occurs here: sex, drugs, rhythm and blues."

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Comedy / Comedy Clubs / The Second City / Culture Travel / → All Tags

LOL Travel: Second City Founder Brought Joy to Millions

We here at Jaunted love to laugh, so we were saddened to read of the passing of Paul Sills, a founder of Chicago's venerable sketch-comedy institution The Second City. Sills may not have been a household name, but he worked with some of the most famous names in American comedy, from Nichols and May to John Belushi, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey in classes and nightly topical performances.

In the Chicago sanctum, anything goes--and often does at the adults-only shows. The drinks are great, too!

Catch a Second City show at permanent theaters in Chi-town, Detroit, Las Vegas (inside the Flamingo), Toronto and LA, or on tour.

Related Stories:
· The Second City [Official Site]
· Paul Sills, Founder of Second City Improv, Dies at 80 [Playbill]
· Comedy Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: johnlutes]

Comedy / Bob Saget / Jaunted Giveaway / HotelChatter / → All Tags

We Are Giving Away Saget For Free

Calling all Church of Saget members! HotelChatter is giving away two sets of tickets for HBO's Comedy Festivalshows, which are taking place in Vegas this weekend. Up for grabs are a pair of tickets to Bob Saget and a pair for the Maxim Real Men of Comedy show. Anyone who enters HotelChatter's Las Vegas Map Contest is eligible to win the tickets, which must be given away by 5 pm today.

Now that you're armed with some hotel picks for a Vegas mancation, don't you think a free comedy show would go perfectly with one of your evenings out? Sure, if you're not already set to be in Vegas this weekend, it's a bit last minute, but spontaneity is kinda macho anyway. Not that we're reserving those freebies just for the gents. HotelChatter's love, like Bob Saget's, is universal and knows no conditions.

Thanks Katherine!

[Photo: dkocolin]

Related Stories:
· HotelChatter Las Vegas Map Contest: Now With Free HBO Comedy Festival Tickets [HotelChatter]
· Mancations Sweep The Nation [Jaunted]

Comedy / Festivals / → All Tags

New York Comedy Festival Starts Today

The 3rd Annual New York Comedy Festival, not to be confused with the New York Underground Comedy Festival, kicks off today in NYC. The event runs through November 12 and features headlining shows from Dane Cook, Denis Leary, Mario Cantone and more, at venues throughout the city.

Other supporting events include a "Comedy Cares" benefit for the homeless, featuring Patrice O'Neal, Paula Poundstone, Caroline Rhea, and some possible surprise guests. Thursday sees a Q&A with "TV Funhouse" creator Robert Smigel at the Museum of Television and Radio, as well as the Andy Kaufman Award finals at Caroline's.  Tonight's kickoff is a Mario Batali comedy roast at Capitale, to benefit the Food Bank for New York City. Poor Mario--they'll never let him go on the orange clogs. We actually had a pair ourselves in middle school, but they were suede, not rubber. That does make it better, right? RIGHT?

Festivals / Comedy / → All Tags

Laugh it Up to Montreal

Sitcoms not doing it for you? Seen every episode of Family Guy and the Simpsons?

Head to the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal from July 6th-31st and catch acts with Jim Belushi, Dame Edna (the scariest drag queen ever) or an "Inside the Writer's Room" series with the peeps who put on the recently defunct "Everbody Loves Raymond."

Tickets start around $30 for select events.

Oh, come on. It'll be fun(ny)....

Related Stories:
·   Festival Just for Laughs [Festival Website]