Humor

Dave Chappelle did what he does best Tuesday night ... packed the house with fans, including a bunch of celebs, who showed up on a cold L.A. night to watch Dave's stand-up.

Chappelle was in great spirits as he arrived at the Peppermint Club in WeHo -- drink and cigarette in hand.

Among those who showed up ... Jeff Ross, Mario, Talib Kweli, Andrew Garfield, Casey Affleck, and Odell Beckham Jr. and GF Lauren Wood.

Dave's been doing a bunch of shows since his final Netflix installment dropped. He's been showing his documentary, "Dave Chappelle: Live in Real Life," at some of the venues. From what we can tell, however, his Peppermint Club gig was strictly stand-up.

If there's one thing Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold character in 'Christmas Vacation' inspired, it's lots of holiday shenanigans ... just ask one man who created a decoration prank based on the movie's most popular scene.

In a now viral TikTok, the decoration's creator shows how he constructed the homemade decoration to look like Clark dangling from his roof as he hung Christmas lights. The prank even comes complete with audio, making it sound like the struggling man is shouting for help.

In another video, you see the local fire department racing to the scene -- seemingly to help out the fake decorator -- though it's unclear if they were part of the gig as well.

The man who Nate Diaz made flinch at the Jake Paul fight on Saturday is furious with the UFC star ... saying he now wants to KO the guy for embarrassing him.

If you missed it ... at some point during Paul's bout with Tyron Woodley, Diaz pretended to throw a huge haymaker at MMA fighter Carrese Archer in the stands.

The scene was captured on video ... and it showed Archer actually spilled his drink everywhere as he thought Diaz's punch was really coming in.

Security members broke everything up before it could escalate ... but now, Archer -- a bare-knuckle boxer -- says he's still so mad about it, he's gunning to knockout Diaz in a real fight.

"I've seen all the laughter -- everybody laugh, ha-ha," Archer said. "The same things that make you laugh make you cry. Nate Diaz is a bonafide female dog."

"He had the police with him, had the security protecting him and you gon' flinch at me and try to sucker punch me when I'm not paying attention?! And, y'all think this man's a gangster?!"

Archer continued, "I am a real street dog. I'm in the streets, believe that!"

Archer then called out Dana White -- who shared the video of the scene on his social media page on Sunday -- telling the UFC honcho to sign him for one fight so he can go after Diaz.

“I bet you won't think it's funny, you sign me for one fight and I knock Nate Diaz the f**k out in the first round," Archer said.

Thanks a lot, COVID ... poor Paul Rudd's feeling "extremely disappointed" his 5th time hosting 'SNL' turned into a patched-together show with almost none of the regular cast, and 2 big guests.

As we reported ... multiple 'SNL' staffers had tested positive, and Lorne Michaels decided to pull the live audience and most of the cast. Tom Hanks and Tina Fey opened the show, explaining most of that, and then did what they were really there to do ... induct Paul into the 5-timers club.

Kenan Thompson brought out Paul's 5-timers robe ... but joked Rudd was really only hosting 4 and a half times.

Most of the show was a best of previous holiday episodes with a few fresh pre-recorded videos from earlier in the week. Tina stuck around to do Weekend Update with Michael Che. She immediately addressed Jost’s absence saying, “It’s not what you think. He’s getting some work done.”

Fey and Che didn't even sit behind the usual update desk ... and instead sat on the main stage, delivering their jokes to Kenan, Tom and Paul.

Che had the night's most timely joke when he did a news item about the judge in Louisiana who was caught on video saying the N-word -- saying it's "the kind of story that makes me wonder, why are me and Kenan the only cast members here?”

As we'd told you ... even musical guest Charli XCX was scratched hours before the broadcast due to the scaled-down production -- but she did appear in one of the pre-recorded bits.

Jimmy Smith is dancing on Florida State's grave ... thanking the school for not hiring Deion Sanders in 2019 and clowning the program for now losing to the Jackson State headman on the recruiting trail.

Smith took the hilarious shots at the 'Noles in a conversation with TMZ Sports this week ... explaining why he believes Prime will not leave JSU for a Power 5 school anytime soon.

"This is his baby," said Smith, who played his college ball for the Tigers before starring in the NFL. "Why would he want to go anywhere else?"

"You look at Florida State and what they did," Smith continued. "They did not give him a chance to be the head coach in the beginning. Now, look at you, Florida State! Huh?! He's ours now. Thank you!"

Of course, Sanders was rumored to be in the running for FSU's vacant head coaching job back in 2019 -- but the Seminoles passed on him and hired Mike Norvell instead.

Sanders went on to take the JSU head coaching gig in 2020 -- and he just ripped the Noles' hearts out this week by flipping top recruit Travis Hunter.

Smith said he couldn't be more fired up to watch Sanders continue to succeed at his alma mater ... telling us, "These kids are coming to Jackson State because they want to play there!"

"You know, they can go anywhere in the country but they want to be at Jackson State," Smith added. "I'm glad to be an alumni of Jackson State. This is just great!"

Jeff Garlin is leaving ABC's hit show "The Goldbergs" ... but it sounds like he was going to be fired on the heels of a human resources probe into allegations he'd been "emotionally abusive" and intimidating to staffers.

Garlin had one more day, at most, of shooting the current season, but won't get to finish up ... according to Deadline, which broke the story and reports a mutual agreement was reached for Garlin's exit.

In a Vanity Fair interview, Garlin talked about some of the accusations and confirmed he had been involved in HR probes -- one, in particular, about him using the word "vagina." He claimed he was just being "silly" ... as a comedian.

However, Garlin allegedly retaliated by repeatedly saying the word to the camera assistant who filed a complaint about him saying it the first time.

Other witnesses on set claimed he abused his power to intimidate, embarrass and belittle a couple that worked together on the show -- and according to Deadline that was the last straw.

Rosanna Scotto got a special surprise from a 4-legged guest on Monday ... when a horse took a leak during a live interview.

Scotto was wrapping up a segment for "Good Day New York" with Manda Kalimian and her horse Pila. Clearly unable to hold it in, Pila let loose ... and splashed urine all over the ground, sending Scotto scrambling to save her stilettos.

Lucky for all involved, the Fox 5 host had a good sense of humor about it, laughing the incident off, she later wrote on Instagram, "Is it #goodluck when a #horse #pee on you? Happy #monday #horseofinstagram #peelikearacehorse"

The NY host had actually been interviewing the two about saving wild horses, in honor of National Day of the Horse on Monday.

Jo Koy might have kicked off a new singing career, well kinda... during his comedy show, he surprised the audience with Boyz II Men's Wanya Morris and he even busted out his own vocals.

It happened Sunday night during Jo's sold-out comedy show at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA ... Jo brought out his longtime friend and the Boyz II Men singer and they both sang the 1994 hit song, "I'll Make Love To You."

Jo didn't bring out the other two B2M members Nathan Morris and Shawn Stockman, but he had no problem stepping up to the mic to sing in their place.

Folks who were there tell TMZ ... Jo cracked jokes, talking about which songs are panty-droppers ... and that's when he brought out Wanya. The night wasn't all jokey. Jo sang Nathan Morris' baritone part and impressed the audience with his vocals.

The song is a classic throwback jam. It spent 14 weeks topping Billboard Hot 100, making it the 3rd best performing song in the 1990s. It also ranked on Billboard's Greatest of All-Time chart.

'SNL' is nothing if not predictable, and they were true to form Saturday night when they skewered 2 recently-unemployed brothers.

Dr. Anthony Fauci -- no, really it was Kate McKinnon -- was offering advice on how to navigate the holidays in the midst of another COVID surge. There was some pretty funny role-playing ... such as a worried passenger wonders out loud to a flight attendant about COVID and whether the mile-high club can get you pregnant.

But then the brothers Cuomo appear, and they introduce themselves this way ... "Hello, I am disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo. I'm disgraced former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, and we both lost our jobs because of COVID."

Ted Cruz is hilarious, as he pretends to have the last laugh in his war with Senator Bob Dole, who died last week. Dole famously said no one liked Cruz ... well, watch the rest.

The attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the great tragedies in American History -- certainly no laughing matter, but West Coast comedians dished out their best jokes to raise a healthy buck for a museum honoring the historic event ... and by healthy, we mean 7 figures.

The Laugh Factory held a virtual telethon on Tuesday -- marking the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor -- out here in Hollywood ... where comics like Paul Rodriguez, Sherri Shepherd, Dane Cook, Alonzo Bodden, Donnell Rawlings and Aida Rodriguez, to name a few, came out for some standup in the name of fundraising for the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

The museum is in Honolulu, where the siege actually occurred -- and the money raised is going straight to them, so they can keep it up and put up even more tributes to the heroes who fought and died.

Anyway, the whole thing ended up being a huge success ... with sources telling us that around $1.63 million total was raised since last weekend -- when this whole campaign kicked off. A majority of that money, we're told, was gifted by an anonymous donor ... supposedly a legend in the aviation world. On Tuesday itself, our sources say around $300k was donated.

BTW, this effort to honor vets and fallen soldiers had a special cameo -- the late Bob Hope's own daughter, Linda, was on hand to deliver a few remarks ... carrying on her father's legacy of spreading humor and joy among our armed service members.

A substitute teacher in Texas was given the boot after "treating" his students to a karaoke version of Britney Spears' "Toxic."

The sub was "teaching" students at Bowie High School when he dimmed the lights and broke out the karaoke machine which he brought with him from home. He then unleashed a light show and exercised his vocal cords.

It did NOT go well. Honchos at the school gave him the boot, saying he wasn't following "best practices." Unclear whether that meant not singing at all or singing "...Baby One More Time."

Hilarious that the school district noted the teacher was not arrested!!!

Also hilarious ... a school district spokesperson said, "I've heard worse Britney Spears covers, but the lights are a bit much."

President Joe Biden welcomes back the Kennedy Center Honors, post-pandemic, and immediately gets totally roasted by ‘SNL’ star Michael Che ... who said, "There’s no way he is awake right?"

The age-appropriate shot was well-received, though, during a night of jokes, laughter and great music. President Biden slipped into his tux for the Sunday night gala honoring 5 legendary artists for their lifetime achievements -- Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels, famed actor Bette Midler, singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell.

This night was particularly special because the Prez and First Lady were in attendance --bringing back the tradition. President Trump had skipped the event since 2016 after honorees threatened to protest if he participated.

In fact, Biden got a standing ovation as he entered the event and praise from attendees such as late-night legend David Letterman, who also took a swipe at Trump, saying ... "It's quite nice once again to see the presidential box being occupied."

Joe Gorga might be great on reality TV, but he is definitely NOT killing it with his stand-up comedy routine ... at least not during a recent NYC gig.

The 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' star bombed during a comedy set earlier this month at the Governors' Comedy Club, where Joe took the mic at one point and things went south quickly.

Check it out ... Joe tried telling a joke/story about some guy he knows, but it came out pretty incoherently -- and more importantly, not really funny at all. He ignored some light jeering and rolled on with his act.

It looks like the audience was trying to cut him some slack ... entertaining his repeated "Are you guys ready?" line, which he used to ad nauseam, but never really paid off with an actual punchline.

We're told the crowd eventually turned on him when he started to curse at them, which you can also hear in the video. One of his pals tried pulling him off stage, but Joe wouldn't go -- that is ... until his wife, Melissa, came on and gave him the hook.

She had a message for the crowd on their way out, and all seemed mostly forgiven in the end.

Multiple comedians now have way less comedy albums on Spotify than they did last month -- all because the streaming giant doesn't wanna fork over extra royalties they're asking for.

Spotify yanked several albums from dozens of high-profile comedians -- including folks like Kevin Hart, John Mulaney, Tiffany Haddish, among many others -- just before Thanksgiving, and did so because they'd reached an impasse over this issue ... this according to the WSJ.

The problem ... apparently, a ton of these comics have teamed up with an org called Spoken Giants -- which has been reaching out to companies like Spotify, YouTube, SiriusXM, Pandora and others to demand they pay an additional chunk of change for a comedians' written joke.

Basically, most comics only get paid as performers by their labels and/or distributors ... as opposed to being able to double dip as composers/writers of the works as well, like songwriters do. That's what Spoken Giants is fighting for -- but Spotify won't play ball.

Unclear how many albums they've taken down in total, but it looks like it's quite a bit -- because the above-mentioned comics' Spotify pages look pretty bare, especially TH ... who doesn't have a single comedy album on her profile anymore ... only one-off singles.

The criteria for which albums stay and which don't isn't exactly laid out either -- but in any case, SG is pissed on behalf of the comedians (none of whom appear to have personally spoken out about this, BTW) ... telling WSJ, Spotify hurt their bottom line with the move.

Who said Brian Kelly wasn't a culture fit in Baton Rouge?!?

LSU's newest head coach -- who was born and raised in Massachusetts -- suddenly has the whole southern thing figured out ... showing off a shocking new accent while speaking with Tiger fans at a basketball game on Wednesday.

"It's a great day to be a Tiger," Kelly said ... sounding more like a guy raised on gumbo than New England clam chowder.

"I'm here with my family and we are so excited to be in the great state of Louisiana. But more importantly, to be with you great fans and to be part of what is going to be an incredible ride here at Louisiana State University."

Listen specifically to the words like "day" and "family" -- the speech had the internet on fire ... with some even digging for clips of Kelly earlier this week to compare.

The whole thing sounds like Frank Caliendo on a bad day ... but you can tell Kelly put a huge emphasis on not coming off like a guy who just spent the past 30-plus years in the Midwest -- even working on his cadence to really try to bring it home.

Tiger fans either haven't heard Kelly talk before or were simply too excited to have Coach in BR to care about the accent ... after all, the guy said he can't wait to start winning natty's.

"That's the standard, that's the expectation," he told the crowd. "We knew that coming in. We don't apologize for it. We know it's hard work. We know there's great teams in the SEC, we respect them. But, this is LSU. Geaux Tigers."

Shaqtin' a Fool, anyone??

NBA rookie Scottie Barnes certainly earned his nomination ... 'cause the Toronto Raptors guard tripped and fell to the ground before facing off against the Grizzlies -- and it was hilarious!!

In the video, you can see Barnes and his teammates were running out onto the floor to do their usual pregame entrance ... when Scottie had a clumsy moment.

20-year-old Barnes stands about 6'9" ... and every bit of his tall frame came crashing down to the floor ... as he appeared to trip over his own feet.

Luckily, Barnes wasn't hurt. He got up immediately -- with some assistance from his teammates, of course -- and laughed it off as he finally made his way to the court.

Scottie was able to joke about it all after the fact, commenting on the video ... "I'm Dead 🤣🤣🤣."

The first-round draft pick from Florida State might need to work on his coordination skills off the court ... but on the court, he seems to be doing just fine in that department.

Barnes is averaging 15.4 points per game, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in only 20 games of action ... and he's emerged as one of the best players from his freshman draft class.

Rookie of the year, maybe??