Friday, May 27

Big Papi Wants to Hug You

With the Chicago Bulls officially eliminated from the playoffs and a lull in the season until the Finals begin (A Hot Cup endorses the Mavs), we now turn our attention to baseball. Today, David Ortiz, colloquially known as Big Papi, is trying to win over the city of New York. You see, Big Papi plays for the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees' hated rivals. Things start out bleak for the big Dominican, but he soon proves that even the toughest folks can crack when presented with the chance to hug a celebrity. Check out the good vibes below.

The New Assistant

Keeping with the Zach Galifianakis theme of the last post, we have, well...more Zach. This is from the Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago, when Galifianakis was hosting. In the sketch, he looks for a new assistant, and all the applicants happen to be pretty adorable kids. Lots of educational value in this one, too, which is always a plus.

Thursday, May 26

Between Two Ferns

A Hot Cup has just recently stumbled onto a juicy nugget over at FunnyorDie.com, "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis." Well, not really stumbled, it's been known about for a couple of months, but after finally having watched all the episodes, we can pick out a favorite. And it's the one with Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter. For those who haven't seen, Zach interviews celebrity in an incredibly awkward manner, and there are plenty of hilarious results. Check out the Conan/Richter clip below, and you can see the rest over at FunnyorDie.com.

Wednesday, May 25

3-Way (the Golden Rule)

First, there was "Dick in a Box." Then, there was "Motherlover." And now, in the season finale of Saturday Night Live, we have "3-Way (the Golden Rule)." Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake return for part three of the series of cheesy 90s R&B tunes, and it seems this song takes place not long after the events of "Motherlover." This one features a cameo by Lady Gaga, and sadly is not as entertaining as the first two efforts, but is still worthy of a couple of chuckles.

Monday, May 23

Album Review - Turtleneck & Chain

The Lonely Island took the world by storm in 2005, with the release of a digital short called "Lazy Sunday." Their debut CD Incredibad dropped in 2009 after a number of additional videos on Saturday Night Live. With hits like "I'm On a Boat" and "Jizz in My Pants," it seemed that The Lonely Island and their music was here to stay. When lead single "I Just Had Sex" came out last winter, anticipation was high for the sophomore effort. So, how do Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer do this time around? A track-by-track look can help us find out!

1) "We're Back!"- This was the third video from the album, and it's really a terrible way to begin. The concept is similar to Incredibad, mixing a mundane topic with hardcore hip hop antics, but the humor here is almost nonexistent, and relies far too heavily on crude jokes to really be funny, which is a theme throughout the album. 1/5

2) "Mama"- This one's a step in the right direction; the boys pay a tribute to the women that raised them, saying all the great things they've done. Except in this case, the mom interrupts the studio session multiple times, getting on everyone's nerves. 4/5

3) "I Just Had Sex" feat. Akon- You've most likely heard this one already, but in case you've lived under a rock the past few months, this song ranks right up there with the best of the album, and the video is hilarious too. 5/5

4) "Jack Sparrow" feat. Michael Bolton- Another theme of this record is that the tracks with videos don't do quite as well as standalone songs, while on Incredibad most of the songs were still just as enjoyable without the accompanying visuals. While that's definitely the case on "Jack Sparrow," where Michael Bolton really outshines everyone, the song is still catchy enough--and the idea of Bolton ruining The Lonely Island's club vibe hilarious enough--that we'll overlook it. 5/5

5) "Attracted to Us" feat. Beck- The beat of this song sounds a lot like "Magic" by B.o.B, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but overall it's nothing too memorable, and fairly repetitive. Beck doesn't really get a chance to do too much on this one, either. 3.5/5

6) "Rocky"- A favorite of A Hot Cup, this autobiographical tale takes us through the protagonist challenging Rocky to a fight, going toe-to-toe with the champ at the weigh-in, and then entering the ring. Unlike other regular-guy-meets-superstar-athlete stories, though, this one ends a bit more realistically. 5/5

7) "My Mic - Interlude"- 22 seconds of mic checks. Funny voices make this one tolerable, and in the amount of time it would take to pull out your iPod from your pocket and change to the next track, it's already almost over. 3/5

8) "Turtleneck & Chain" feat. Snoop Dogg- The title track is probably one of the worst songs. Snoop's verse is forgettable and the song just never really flows as well as it should. Too bad. 2/5

9) "Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie & Clyde" feat. Rihanna- This is another one that greatly suffers from not having a video, especially since an entire scene from said video is cut out of the song. Curiously enough, there's not a Shy Ronnie 1 anywhere to be found. 2.5/5

10) "Trouble on Dookie Island"- The middle of the album (really from "My Mic" to "Watch Me Do Me") is average at best, with minimal laughs, and again, the songs that have videos need the video to be effective. That being said, this one fits right in with that explanation, except it's not even average--it's worse. 1.5/5

11) "Falcor vs. Atreyu - Classy Skit #1"- A nod to The Neverending Story, but not a particularly funny or clever one. 2/5

12) "Motherlover" feat. Justin Timberlake- As a song (even without the accompanying video), it's not bad, but listeners can't help but feeling cheated since this song came out roughly two years ago. Although "Dick in a Box," which "Motherlover" is the sequel to, also came out about two years before the album it was on, so maybe it's just a theme. 4.5/5

13) "The Creep" feat. Nikki Minaj and John Waters- It should be no surprise that a song released in 2010 or 2011 features Nikki Minaj on a track, and she has eight bars of...well, nothing too great. This is another song that falters when you're not watching the video, so its score suffers accordingly. 3/5

14) "Watch Me Do Me - Classy Skit #2"- Another of these pointless skits, this one pretends like it's starting out as a song, and then devolves into some of that crude humor we're used to seeing by now. 2/5

15) "Threw It on the Ground"- Once again, the video makes this song all that much better. The image of a piece of birthday cake being thrown to the ground really adds to the description of what Andy Samberg says he's throwing. Okay, maybe it doesn't, but especially during the part when Samberg says things being thrown on the ground, "like this, and this, and that, and th-this," well, it would help if we could see what those things are. At least this song is still catchy, though, so it gets a pass. 4.5/5

16) "Japan"- A Hot Cup will venture a guess and say this will be the next music video, since the entire song is about The Lonely Island being in Japan so that the label will pay for an expensive trip. The recent disasters in the country make this a little bit of a sensitivity issue, but there are still some very funny lines, and the song is incredibly infectious. 5/5

17) "After Party" feat. Santigold- One could argue this is a sequel to "Jizz in my Pants," and it even references the fish from "Like a Boss." Too bad it isn't as good as either one of those, and Santigold's part is difficult to understand. Looking up her words reveals there might be a reason why--it's not very funny. A couple good lines here and there, but that's about it. 3.5/5

18) "No Homo"- A nice little closing number addressing homophobia, and how the term "no homo" can be used to get away with otherwise offensive statements. Or something like that. The outrageousness of the statements as the song chugs along is what makes it special. 5/5

19) "No Homo (Outro)"- This might as well be another skit, because it's not very long, and it's not very memorable. So that makes a weak opener and a weak closer, along with a weak middle. 2/5

The bonus DVD also includes videos for six album tracks, plus "We'll Kill U," featuring Schaffer and Taccone as the "two guyz" guys; "Reba (Two Worlds Collide);" and "Great Day," which is a showtune-esque day in the life of a cocaine user.

All in all, despite the poor choices for beginning and end track and the little lull in the middle, the times The Lonely Island is on point are good times, and while Incredibad is more clever, Turtleneck & Chain is still a fun romp.

Overall Score: 4/5

Thursday, May 19

Big ups to Roq for pointing this one out, but it's good to see baseball players doing something other than just snoozing in the dugout during a rain delay. And boy oh boy, is that something hilarious. Check out the results below of what happens when a game between the Clemson Tigers and Davidson Wildcats gets delayed.

Harlem Globetrotter Humor

Flip brought this to the attention of A Hot Cup, but as any fan of basketball knows, the Harlem Globetrotters are a good, solid romp in the park. Their hijinks always bring a smile to the crowd's collective face, and their basketball skills are pretty good, too.

In this video, Globetrotter Dizzy Grant has quite the impressive repertoire of NBA player impersonations, from Shaq all the way to Kobe. While it would be interesting to see some more obscure players (perhaps Chuck Hayes's free throw shooting), the general public probably wouldn't know who Grant was imitating, so we'll forgive him. Check out the hilarity below.

Something to Make You Go "Awwwwww"

Sometimes we just need a little simple reminder that life doesn't need to be so difficult. The video below has been sweeping the Internet lately, and it's young love at its finest: a boy sitting next to the "girl next door" (literally, since they're neighbors), and the camera happens to record their first kiss. The ensuing reaction is amazing, and you can tell this kid is going to be a stud someday. If this doesn't at least make you smile, you can say you've learned something today: that you don't have a soul. Kudos to Alicia for bringing this to my attention.

Monday, May 16

Taj Gibson—Dunk You Very Much

Sometimes, during the course of a basketball game, a player will complete a slam dunk. Their fingers will make contact with the rim and the ball will be thrown down in a more powerful manner than just during a routine jump shot. That player often has to jump fairly high to reach the rim, and the resulting successful jam will cause a stir in the audience, perhaps even prompting some to jump out of their seats and clap.

Then, other times, this happens:



Taj Gibson, a second-year player out of USC, COMPLETELY destroys Dwyane Wade in this dunk, to the point that even Wade had to give him props.

“That was a good one,” Wade said. “I really got punked. It was good. It was a very athletic play. I knew I didn’t have a chance.”

At least he knew, and it turned out the Heat didn’t have a chance either, dropping the first game, 103-82.

But the fun for Gibson didn’t end there, and he may have even topped his first dunk with an insane putback in the waning moments of the game.



Game 2 is Wednesday night, and if there are any more slams like this in store, well, basketball fans should get excited.

Two Videos That Have Been Out For Awhile Get Revisited

In our last post, we detailed The Lonely Island's newest jam, which turned Michael Bolton into a viral sensation. Well, a few weeks before that, Andy Samberg released a "solo" project called "I Threw it on the Ground," which, as the name implies, sees him throwing various things on the ground. It appears on the group's second album Turtleneck & Chain, and it's typical stupid but hilarious Lonely Island fare.


The second video is more hip-hop oriented. As many readers know, A Hot Cup is quite the fan of Lupe Fiasco. The second single from his album Lasers was released to radio a couple months ago, and the video just came out at the end of April. The song is called "Words I Never Said," and it features Skylar Grey (or Holly Rowe, whatever you care to call her). It's also probably the best rapping Lupe does on the entire album, so it's definitely worth a listen. The intense video is below.

Tuesday, May 10

New Lonely Island Video

As any fan of A Hot Cup knows (it might be into double digits by now!), The Lonely Island gets some big props here. And with their sophomore album dropping this Tuesday, what better time than to release a new single? It features Michael Bolton, and rarely does the featured artist completely steal the show. But that's the case in this one, and Mr. Bolton's popularity will surely see a surge. Check out the video below.

Monday, May 9

Can We Get a Rant?

Sometimes an event will happen that will cause a break from third-person, and I think this event, which happened on the bus a few days ago, warrants that. If nothing else, it's mildly amusing.

The bus ride to work is about an hour (thanks, L.A. traffic). So, if someone is being annoying, it can be a long ride. And foolishly I decided to sit near this annoying person, which was my first mistake. How was she being annoying? Well, she was loudly yapping away on her phone, which, in fairness, is a common occurrence on the bus. Everyone feels the need to yell whenever they're on their phone in a public place. Why, I'm not sure, even though I'm most likely guilty of it too. Now, before I go on with the story, it's important to note this woman is black. Not because I'm racist, but because of what would transpire...

This woman has been on the phone for about ten minutes and has not said anything that would really be considered deep conversation. I'm listening to headphones, or trying to, but I figure I'll just grit it out. Then, this woman begins banging the seat next to her, which happens to be connected to mine. As anyone with at least a fifth grade education knows, if someone hits something that is connected to someone else, that second person will feel it. Allow me to diagram the layout of the seating in case there's any confusion:

|x _| |y _ _|

I was sitting where the "x" is, she was sitting where the "y" is. The other seats in this column were empty. But, as mentioned earlier, my seat is connected to the one she is routinely banging. I figured she was just doing this to emphasize her point during a particularly rowdy sentence, but after it continued for about five minutes, I felt compelled to say something. That was mistake #2.

Very politely, I leaned over and asked if she wouldn't mind hitting the seat, since it was causing my seat to shake. She looks blankly at me, and then goes back to her phone call. The first words out of her mouth: "Girl, this guy on the bus just asked me to stop hitting the seat because it's shaking his. I'm not even hitting the seat he's sitting in." I was stunned--I know people are generally assholes, and maybe it was because it was still early in the morning, but I couldn't believe the disrespect happening before my eyes.

"Are you going to stop or are you just going to continue to disrespect me?" I asked. She chose option #2. I explained that because the seats were connected (again, that fifth grade education really came in handy), when she hit the other seat, I still felt the effects. She then repeated that to her friend, who I can only assume took my side. Since she's causing such a commotion doing this, another man from substantially farther away came down and asked if she mind keeping it down, since he could hear her over his headphones. I guess I should have felt better that she was also inconsiderate to him, and similarly just told her friend on the phone what was happening, without caring to be polite.

And this was where her being black came into play.

After insulting Headphones Guy, she says, "People need to realize we're not in Montgomery, Alabama. We're in South Central Los Angeles." Never mind that we were still in Santa Monica (a suburb of L.A., and not as "street" as she would have everyone believe), but this woman was wired so strangely that she wouldn't listen to anyone. She began going on a rant about how she's sitting at the back of the bus because all of us "white folks" were disrespecting her. Keep in mind she chose where to sit.

Again, I should have just sat back and laughed, but I just mumbled out to myself, "Are you really playing the race card right now?" And then she said, "YES I'm playing the race card!" and continued with another eight minutes or so of amusing rhetoric, including bringing up slavery and segregation, neither of which was relevant to anything happening on the bus. Around this time, a pleasant teenager (who, since we're playing the race card, was Asian) sat in between us (bless his soul), and someone else sat on the other side of her, and with less physical freedom, she kept her voice down. But it was certainly an entertaining thirty minutes. In a perfect world I would have just grabbed the phone out of her hand and thrown it out the door the next time the bus stopped, but hey, it's not a perfect world. Nevertheless, the moral of the story is: Don't talk to anyone. Ever. The end.

The Office- "The Girl Next Door"

As any fan of the U.S. version of The Office knows, Steve Carell's Michael Scott just departed the series. As most fans of the show also know, there are hundreds of web exclusive videos or novelties that may have been referenced to in passing, but get fleshed out online. Creed's blog is an example that immediately comes to mind.

But what we're after here is Subtle Sexuality, a pop duo starring Mindy Kaling and Ellie Kemper, who play Kelly and Erin, respectively, on the show. They released an earlier "hit" called "Male Prima Donna," and over the weekend dropped their follow-up single "Girl Next Door." While the video isn't overtly funny (although B.J. Novak's cameo as "Ry Howard" warrants a few laughs), the song is infectiously catchy and will most likely have you bobbing your head. Check it out below.

Saturday, May 7

A Plethora of Videos

Wow, has it really been nearly a week since the last post? A Hot Cup certainly apologizes for that, and as a way of saying we're sorry, here are five very funny videos from over the past few years. Enjoy!

Honest Grad School Ad
Graduate school isn't for everybody, but this College Humor video takes a look at who would do well with continuing their academic career.



Whose Line Is It Anyway? Props
We're showing five videos today, and this video is five playings of the game "Props." And all five are hilarious.



Deluxe Hugs
We've all seen the "free hugs" folks hanging around, right? They have signs offering free hugs, and who doesn't enjoy a good hug? Well, this guy decided to charge for his hugs, and chaos ensues.



Jon Barry and Confetti
Jon Barry is an analyst and announcer for ABC/ESPN, and from time to time he'll announce the All-Star/Rookie games during All-Star weekend. And sometimes a Harlem Globetrotter will make an appearance. And sometimes...well, just check out the below.



Stinkabod's Dream from Dazzleloids
This one is a little self-serving: it's a video A Hot Cup uploaded to YouTube. It's also a uproarious memento of randomness from a little known game called Dazzleloids. And it is slightly trippy. Apologies for the random screen flashes, but hopefully it doesn't ruin the whole experience.

Monday, May 2

The White House Correspondents Dinner

The White House correspondence dinner took place over the weekend, and while that obviously wasn’t the biggest news of said weekend (that would be the news that Osama bin Laden is dead), it’s still worth checking out. Barack Obama had some good jabs in the early going, and later Donald Trump goes into a “I am not amused” glare while SNL’s Seth Meyers unleashes a barrage of jokes his way. Obama’s speech is below, followed by Meyers’ turn at the podium. While A Hot Cup personally feels that Meyers should have delivered his jokes without simply reading them, it’s still funny.