On May 16, 1984, Andy Kaufman died. Not a pretend Andy Kaufman who traded lives with the real Andy Kaufman who lived on. The one and only Andy Kaufman died. End of story. Everyone knows this. As a person who is friends with people who knew Andy well, I most assuredly know it.

Then last night I found this, a Huffington Post story detailing a group of people who still believe Andy Kaufman, the real Andy Kaufman, did not die that day. For some reason, the article got under my skin. I emailed the author asking why she decided to run such a story. What was her motivation?

After waiting five minutes, I began emailing her sources. I wanted to understand their motivation. I ended every email with a statement, “I can assure you that Andy Kaufman is dead.” I began receiving replies to my emails. The reporter explained that, like me, she found her sources from an Andy Kaufman Lives website.

Later, one of the sources replied. He relayed his story to me much as he did to the original reporter. Then another email came. Then another. They all read the same: “What do you want to know about Andy Kaufman?”

It was then that it hit me. I had spent hours asking questions that I thought I knew the answer to. And I was wrong! Andy Kaufman did not die in 1984. He was alive in every Twitter message and email I sent. He was alive in every reply I received. He was alive every time I wrote and rewrote this article.

As I write this, while a large part of me is glad that I had this revelatory experience, another part of me regrets my own initial motivation. I wanted to be the debunker, the guy who gives away the magician’s secrets. In my quest to reveal the real Andy, I had become the anti-Andy.

With that in mind, I leave you with this parting thought: Andy Kaufman lives, and do not listen to anyone who says otherwise. The fact that you’re reading this is all the proof you need.

 Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Fortunately for Los Angeles, the above picture was a staged event. If only we could have seen peoples’ faces as a pilot used his plane to write, “How do I land?” in the sky.

The incredible mind behind one of the coolest pranks we’ve seen in a long time is comedian Kurt Braunohler. (Check out our interview with Kurt here.)

“LA comedian Kurt Braunohler raised nearly two times what he asked (he needed $4,000 and got $6,820 from 257 backers) in order to hire a skywriting airplane to print the phrase “HOW DO I LAND” in the sky over downtown,” reported Jaunted.com. 

Braunohler’s kickstarter page included his personal pitch to funders: “Skywriting is crazy. We’re forcing clouds to say things. That’s inherently funny. How great would it be to look up one day and there’s a message in the sky, for no other reason other than itself. It’s not trying to sell you anything, it’s not trying to tell you something. It’s just there.”

Read more about Kurt’s “How do I land” airplane joke at his Kickstarter page here.

If you or someone you know was on the ground as the prank occurred, send us the details about peoples’ reactions. You can reach us on Twitter @AmericasComedy.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Michael Ian Black was probably among the first people I followed upon joining Twitter a couple years ago. I’d been a fan of his for a long time and his tweets were (and continue to be) incredibly hilarious, so it was a no-brainer.

The one thing I could never get him to do was respond to one of my tweets. No matter what I sent, no reply. Sometimes I would be in a Twittersation, his name would be put in, and he would respond to the other person and cut my handle out. Talk about chutzpah!

On this past New Year’s Eve, I decided to make one final effort. When tweeting my resolutions, one of them was, “Get Michael Ian Black to respond to a tweet.” Within seconds he tweeted back, “Cross one off your list.” Simple, to the point, and fucking brilliant!

So when I heard that Michael (I refuse to refer to him as “Ian Black”) had set off the Twitter Outrage Machine, I was ready to rush to his defense. No matter who he offended (the blacks,  the gays, the Josh Malina‘s) I would be Thelma to his Louise. I was prepared to go off the cliff with a person who had typed exactly five words to me in my entire life.

Then I saw the Tweet:

Really? He tweeted a beer endorsement? That’s what all the fuss was about? Had these people never been on Twitter before? It’s filthy, if you follow the right people anyway. And Michael can be one of the filthiest. This is a man who tweeted, “Gonna fuck your mom on Mother’s Day.” Plus, I think he actually may have!

I mean, look, I understand the overall debate about sponsor-generated content, especially when it comes to news organizations. And as a person who manages a website, I have declined offers of such material. This was only because they would have the ability to publish full-length articles on the site.

That’s apples and oranges, but while I am no Michael Ian Black, if Dos Equis or Arby’s wanted to pay me to put a banner ad on my site, or to tweet about the delicious new King Hawaiian Roast Beef sandwich with Swiss cheese, pickles, and creamy Dijon sauce, why not?

Now I would probably feel differently if a comedian who railed against conservatives ran a Tweet sponsored by the Tea Party. But it’s fucking beer. Without beer there wouldn’t be a comedy club in the whole damn country.

So if you’re all atwitter about Michael getting a few bucks for writing a hundred forty characters about Dos Equis, sign offline, slide on your Air Jordans, have a Coke, smile and calm down.

As for me, I’m gonna have a beer and send Michael some tweets, to which he will not respond.

Darren Staley is the host of Dylan Brody’s Neighbor’s Couch. Follow him on Twitter @Crobama.

We’ve all seen sponsored ads on Twitter, and we can all agree ads have more impact when the messenger is incredibly popular. Insert comedian Michael Ian Black and his nearly two million followers.

Seizing the opportunity for some easy money, Black tweeted out the following Dos Equis sponsored message about a “Most Interested Person” in the world app.

Some fans felt Black wasn’t being true to form, that his organic, comedy built following shouldn’t be tampered by sponsored tweets. But Black disagreed. ”My only regret, and it is a HUGE regret, in tweeting for Dos Equis, is that I somehow misspelled the word ‘paid,’” Black tweeted later on.

Here’s a back and forth between Black and one of his followers:

Other comedians on Twitter defended Black, with their trademark sense of humor and wit.

The Huffington Post made a great find when they discovered a blog by Black entitled, “In Defense of Twittertising.” In it, Black wrote:

“I provide a valuable service (a constant stream of dick jokes) to Twitter for free. As of today, I’ve written 2,655 tweets. That’s a lot of free material, all of it contributing to the entertainment of the 1.5 million people who follow me, as well as the multi-billion dollar capitalization of Twitter itself. When presented with an opportunity to get some return on my investment of time and energy, why not take it?”

My opinion is Black should go for it, especially if he’s promoting a cool product. My God, comedians need money to survive, or they’ll have to get day jobs! The more money Black has, the more he can create, innovate, hire talent around him and produce the comedy that we love.

All the haters would have taken the same deal from Dos Equis in a heartbeat.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Did you wake up this morning not knowing who Kelly Oxford was? Join the club.

In what is probably the second most fascinating Twitter story I’ve heard (here’s the first), this stay at home Canadian mom wasn’t doing anything insanely special with her life until Twitter came along.

“‘If you can name five Kardashians but can’t name five countries in Asia, stick a knife in an electrical socket.’ That piece of counsel, Kelly Oxford‘s most successful tweet of all time, is the kind of one-liner that gets you 10,000 retweets and counting,” reported The Guardian. “It’s also the sort of material that takes a woman from stay-at-home Canadian mother to bestselling author, Hollywood screenwriter and, of course, Twitter celebrity.”

A snapshot below of her Tweets from just the past day explains why.

Oxford is hilarious, and I encourage all our readers to follow her @KellyOxford (look for the Twitter verification because their are imitators). To read more about her life, check out her Wikipedia page and the feature story on her via The Guardian.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Before I start typing this review let me lay down a little back story. I have been a Joan Rivers fan since I was old enough to know what stand-up comedy was. I watched her stand-up comedy as often as a kid with basic cable could…and of course when she would fill in for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.”

I laughed hardest when she would make fun of her husband. She told Johnny how her husband was so dumb he couldn’t count to 21 with his pants on, and he would press the buttons on the elevator and stand there….waiting for candy to come out. I watched her TV show when it was on, and I saw her Roast on Comedy Central.

I did not like “In Bed with Joan Rivers” – not one tiny bit.  Joan looks like a younger Joan who was stung in the face by ten thousand bees. (You can’t comment on anything she does without saying something about the plastic surgery. Sorry.) She is as funny as ever, but that is overshadowed by the awkwardness of the whole “in bed” situation.

The shows content is what you would expect, fluff, filler and mind numbing questions with answers that would put even the most caffeinated internet user into a deep, deep sleep. Like a food coma, only less satisfying.

The people who book the guests must be using a batch of D&D dice and a Ouija Board to conjure up the randomness of talent who end up laying down with someone old enough to be their grandmother. Anthony Jeselnik, Gary Busey (who does good work with Buseyfoundation.org), Margaret Cho and Ru Paul. Wow, I can’t see from all the stars in my eyes.

The intent behind the series is a solid one, but the waste of a legend for something like this turns my stomach.

To quote her at the end of the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers, “Comedy needs me” …. it does Joan, but not like this. Please get out of bed.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

We all had a feeling this would happen, right?

Comedian Whitney Cummings, writer and star of the NBC sitcom “Whitney,”  has had her show cancelled after just two seasons. The show debuted to 7 million weekly viewers, but dipped to just 4 million as the seasons went on.

Behind the scenes, a show runner change was made, and a cast member departed. NBC held on tightly to “Whitney,” moving it to Fridays, keeping it around in case one of their new sitcoms failed – basically performing the TV equivalent of CPR on a dead person.

In March, its second season ended with less than three million weekly viewers.

But here’s the silver lining: Whitney isn’t a clean comic in my opinion. She needs the freedom to drop a C word every now and then. She’s got a cold side to her. She’d be great at roasts. Cummings deserves another shot on her talent and sex appeal alone, preferably on HBO.

As for Chris D’Elia, no one can confirm if this photo was a reaction to the news, but chances are he’ll be on vacation for a while.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

“Last Comic Standing” champ Josh Blue’s most recent special “Sticky Change” will be released by New Wave Dynamics on May 21 – digitally and in a CD/DVD combo pack.

Blue became a part of the comedy world after he became the winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in the summer of 2006. His weekly appearances on “Last Comic” took him to the national scene and expanded his fan base.

His most recent special, “Sticky Change”, was recorded live at the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota and premiered on Showtime last year.

Blue shares stories about his cross cultural marriage and family, and looking like the guy who cabbies would think pays in sticky change.

Blue tours clubs and colleges across the country for his fans and remains active in Denver.

Be sure to get your copy of Josh Blue’s “Sticky Change” when it comes out on May 21. For more information about Blue or his tour, you can check out his official website, Facebook, or Twitter page.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Marc Maron has been on my radar for a long time. Many days after working third shift in the 90s, I would come home and watch Comedy Central specials and “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.” I always lit up when Maron was on the screen, in most cases literally. Lots of pot in the 90s.

During the thousands, or the aughts if you prefer, I went through a heavy political phase. Around this same time, Maron began hosting “Morning Sedition on Air America Radio.” Al Franken’s show seemed to get most of the buzz, but I preferred Maron’s edgy intelligence and take-no-prisoners approach.

Then, around 2010, I awoke from an agoraphobic coma to discover Maron’s hit podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. I think I listened to the first 30 episodes or so in a weekend. A Maron-thon, if you will. Yeah, that was lame. But the podcast was amazing.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the stories about cocaine and hookers and shitty comedy clubs, Attempting Normal is more the tale of a man doing just that. A man working very hard trying to navigate the obstacles that life, many of which – for some unfathomable reason – we construct ourselves.

Maron is acutely aware of his own self-destructive tendencies, including his proclivity to lash out at others for perceived wrongs (see C.K, Louis). But at times I wondered if Maron was taking on too much personal responsibility. Take his college graduation, for example. Far from being supportive and enthusiastic, Maron’s father’s words to his son were: “I don’t think I want to live anymore.”

A lesser man could have blamed every bad thing that happened in life on that horrible and demoralizing moment. No need to dig deeper. Failed relationships, failed career, feelings of being under-appreciated: Dad at graduation.

But Maron does not take the easy way out. He does not want sympathy. He does not want you to feel his pain. He does that enough on his own. He wants to understand pain, and jealousy, and failure, and success. Maron isn’t so much telling the world “why” as he is asking the world “why,” and hoping for an answer that may never come.

As Maron says in the introduction: “This is who I am. I overthink. I ruminate. But what I really want is relief. Most people are the same. We’re all carrying around some shit. When you hear the things that people have gone through and realize you’ve gone through the same, it provides an amazing amount of relief. It gives us hope. And I think that’s what we’re supposed to get from each other. The hope that maybe, just maybe, we’re all going to be okay. Maybe.”

What that quote tells me is that Maron’s attempt at normal may at long last be complete. Maybe.

Get your copy of Attempting Normal here and watch “Maron” on IFC Friday nights at 10pm EST. Follow Marc on Twitter @MarcMaron.

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

A stripper Q&A was featured Tuesday night on Comedy Central during episode two of “Inside Amy Schumer.”

The edgy comedian spoke with the smoking hot brunette dancer named Kristen, and asked her questions that I’m sure many of her males fans watching the show wanted to know. Fans of Schumer’s show also tweeted about the stripper. Last week it was model Shelby Welinder who captivated Tweeters and Google searchers.

The stripper admitted to once giving a lap dance to a 97 year-old man with a catheter. Ouch. How does that even work/happen without a trip to the ER?

She also said she’s made up to $2800 in one night! Pretty good money in this economy. Kristen also said that up to 20 men have been in love with her at one time, and one guy even asked her to meet his mother before crying in the champagne room.

Check out a clip of Amy’s show below. Don’t forget to check out new episodes of “Inside Amy Schumer” - a show that premiered with very high ratings – every Tuesday night at 10:30/9:30 p.m on Comedy Central. 

Visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!