York University gains archive of 2,500 Ben Wicks cartoons

A collection of 2,500 cartoons by late Canadian cartoonist Ben Wicks that was the centre of a legal dispute has been donated to York University in Toronto.

Wicks’s family, which gained custody of the cartoons in a lawsuit, has donated the cartoons to the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections at York.

The collection includes signed cartoons Wicks drew in the late 1960s and early 1970s for publications such as the Toronto Telegram, Toronto Star and Saturday Evening Post.

The cartoons will be made available to researchers in history and current affairs, as well as those studying Wicks’s work.

Wicks was known for his simple style and witty cartoons lampooning political figures such as Pierre Trudeau, Richard Nixon and Joe Clark.

Based in Toronto, he was a TV personality and broadcaster as well as a supporter of humanitarian causes, including famine relief in Biafra, which he helped publicize with his cartoons.

Stand-up comedy films headed for theaters

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Audiences wanting to take their minds off the recession will soon be able to experience a night of Big Apple stand-up comedy on the big screen — without a two-drink minimum.

The programing arm of cinema advertising firm Screenvision has partnered with production firm Waggingtail Entertainment for seven original stand-up features, set to hit theaters across the U.S. starting in May under the series title “Stand-Up 360.”

Caroline Rhea serves as the lead host of the features, which typically include 100-plus minutes each of stand-up from six headline and up-and-coming comedians, recorded live, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.

The “Stand-Up 360″ series also includes special theme presentations, such as two “Muy Caliente” editions, featuring Latino talent and hosted by Erik Rivera, and “Inside Out,” headlined by popular gay and lesbian comics.

‘God of Carnage’ hilariously trashes civility

NEW YORK – Calling Miss Manners.

Civility gets thoroughly trashed — along with a few other things — in “God of Carnage,” Yasmina Reza’s hilarious yet surprisingly thoughtful comedy that has brought James Gandolfini to Broadway after his enormous success on television in “The Sopranos.”

Here Gandolfini is a team player, one of four actors who do superb ensemble work in a verbally and physically volatile production directed with precision by Matthew Warchus.

The play, which opened Sunday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, has been adapted from the French by Christopher Hampton. For Broadway, he’s transplanted the story from Paris to what appears to be upper middle-class Brooklyn where two sets of parents are meeting to discuss their young sons’ park brawl. The problem? How to defuse the situation in which one lad got two teeth broken.

NBC boss: Jon Stewart’s criticism absurd, unfair

NEW YORK (Reuters) – NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker fired back at comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday, saying it was “unfair” and “absurd” for the funnyman to criticize CNBC and question its coverage of financial news.

“Everybody wants to find a scapegoat. That’s human nature,” Zucker said during a keynote address at a media industry conference. “But to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd.”

“Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn’t make it so,” Zucker said, describing the comedian’s comments as “completely out of line.”

Zucker’s comments are the latest salvo in a war of words with Stewart, who hosts the mock news program “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on the Comedy Central cable television network owned by Viacom Inc.

Spike TV picks up sports comedy "Blue Mountain"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Spike TV has picked up the football-themed series “Blue Mountain State,” a comedy in the vein of “Animal House.”

“Mountain” follows three incoming freshmen (Darin Brooks, Chris Romano, Sam Jones III) who attend Midwestern football powerhouse Blue Mountain State and quickly must adapt to college life while juggling football, women, classes and nonstop hazing.

Co-starring on “Mountain” are NFL running back-turned-actor Ed Marinaro as the team’s coach, Gabrielle Dennis as Jones’ controlling girlfriend and Alan Ritchson as a senior on the team.

The series will premiere in the summer.

“‘Blue Mountain State’ contains four key ingredients to being a guy: football, partying, women and hazing,” said Kevin Kay, president of the male-centric Spike TV.

Bozo the Clown creator Alan Livingston dies at 91

LOS ANGELES – Alan W. Livingston, the music executive who created Bozo the Clown and signed the Beatles during his tenure as president of Capitol Records, has died. He was 91.

Livingston died Friday of age-related causes in his Beverly Hills home, said his stepdaughter, Jennifer Lerner.

Livingston began his multifaceted career in show business as a writer and producer of children’s read-along record albums for Capitol Records. He came up with the Bozo the Clown character for the 1946 album “Bozo at the Circus,” which became a hit and spawned a cottage industry of merchandise and the television series featuring the wing-haired clown.

When he moved into executive positions at Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Livingston signed Frank Sinatra, then at a low point in his career, and introduced him to arranger Nelson Riddle. Together, the pair produced “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Young At Heart,” which led to Sinatra’s comeback.

Leno offers free show for Detroit’s unemployed

DETROIT (Reuters) – Detroit, a long-suffering late-night punchline and one of the U.S. cities hardest hit by the recession, is in line for some comic relief courtesy of Jay Leno.

The host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” announced on his late-night talk show Monday that he would host an April 7 benefit in the city, devastated by the near-collapse of its auto industry and crumbling housing prices.

People who say they are unemployed — about one in eight in the state say they are — can get four free tickets to the show billed as “Jay’s Comedy Stimulus Plan.”

Sponsors, including soft drink and food maker PepsiCo, are chipping in to offset the cost of free soft drinks and parking at The Palace arena of Auburn Hills, which is home to the Detroit Pistons professional basketball team.

Seinfeld stars to reunite for Curb Your Enthusiasm

Famous TV foursome Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards will reunite this fall, but not for a reunion of their classic sitcom Seinfeld.

The actors will appear as themselves in a multi-episode arc of Larry David’s satirical, pseudo-reality series Curb Your Enthusiasm, cable network HBO said Thursday, confirming an earlier report by Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Former stand-up comedian David co-created and served as head writer and executive producer of Seinfeld, one of U.S. television’s most acclaimed comedy series.

The appearance will mark the first time the quartet of actors has appeared together on a scripted program since their Emmy Award-winning show’s finale more than a decade ago.

"The Simpsons" to clinch television record

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fox said on Thursday it has ordered two more seasons of animated comedy “The Simpsons,” ensuring the show that started in 1989 will surpass “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running prime-time U.S. television series.

“The Simpsons” will start its 21st season in the fall, after last year tying the longevity record of “Gunsmoke,” which ended in 1975 after 20 seasons. Its second season in the two-year deal will come in 2010.

The cops and courts show “Law & Order” on network NBC has run for 19 prime-time seasons, starting in 1990.

“The Simpsons” has won 24 Emmy Awards and was already the longest running animated series on prime-time television in the United States. It was created by cartoon artist Matt Groening.

The Simpsons are a family of five made up of dull-witted father Homer, good-intentioned mom Marge and kids Bart and Lisa and Maggie, who all live in a town called Springfield that serves as a microcosm of the United States.

Conan says bye to New York with some old friends

NEW YORK – Conan O’Brien said goodbye to New York and NBC’s “Late Night” by passing out shards of his stage, enjoying one last rub from Will Ferrell and promising fans he wouldn’t grow up for an earlier time slot.

O’Brien is heading to Los Angeles, where NBC will fulfil a promise it made five years ago to make him “Tonight” show host. That new gig begins in June.

O’Brien took a sledgehammer and axe to his stage set this week, giving fans souvenirs. On his last show, taped Friday evening and aired at 12:35 a.m. ET, a construction vehicle was used to tear down a pillar of lights, which was cut up offstage.

Most of his final “Late Night” after 16 years was spent airing highlights and visiting with Andy Richter, O’Brien’s former sidekick who left the show in 2000. It was an excuse to air the priceless clip of Richter, “tricked” into believing he was going to a spa, wandering nude onto the “Today” show set and interrupting Matt Lauer.