Comedy

Josh Gad had to put on a show for a comedy legend ... revealing he ran Mel Brooks through the recent "Star Wars" sequels while pitching a "Spaceballs" sequel.

The actor told the story on a recent episode of the "Let's Talk Off Camera" podcast, hosted by Kelly Ripa ... explaining Mel's very involved in a "Spaceballs" sequel.

Gad says when they pitched their original concept, Mel told them he needed them to explain the more recent movies to him ... and asked Gad not to leave at any detail.

Nikki Glaser is erring on the side of caution when it comes to jokes about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni ... confirming she won't mention the hot-button topic during Sunday's Golden Globes.

The comedian, who is hosting the annual awards show for the first time this weekend, made it known she's steering clear of the controversy ... out of fear of ending up on the "wrong side of things."

While chatting with Yahoo Entertainment, Nikki acknowledged the on-set feud-turned-legal war between the "It Ends With Us" costars is all anyone can talk about ... but the "mere mention" of the scandal on Sunday could end with her accidentally putting her foot in it.

Jon Cryer's not feeling confident ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House, blasting the President-elect's 2nd term for being a "clown show" even before he's inaugurated.

We caught up with the actor -- who was a vocal supporter of Kamala Harris -- at LAX, where he told us he doesn't think Trump will be any better the second time around.

As Jon put it, Trump "was terrible" at being prez years ago, and JC is certain the businessman isn't "gonna get better" at doing the job.

11:30 AM PT -- Hannah Berner has responded to the online response to her Netflix roast joke about Blake Lively, writing in an Instagram Story post ... "My joke in the Netflix roast was filmed before news of the lawsuit. To be 100 percent clear, I support Blake xoxo"

In comedy, timing is everything ... and, the time to make jokes about Blake Lively's alleged bad behavior has clearly passed -- and one comedian may catch flak for a previously recorded crack.

Here's the deal ... Netflix's "Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year" comedy special came out on Friday -- with well-known comics riffing on the biggest stories of the year.

Hannah Berner -- a former reality TV star turned stand-up comedian -- decided to take aim at Lively over rumors about her difficult personality.

Whitney Cummings may not know Justin Baldoni personally ... but that sure didn't stop her from opining that she knows his type -- and she thinks there were clearly warning signs that align with allegations in Blake Lively's recently filed complaint.

Here's the deal ... Blake sued costar Baldoni for sexual harassment and alleged he took part in a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation ... all stemming from their work together on "It Ends with Us."

Since news of the shocking complaint broke ... Justin has been dropped by his talent agency ... and a number of stars -- including SAG and Sony Pictures -- have expressed strong support for BL.

Nick Saban is being a good sport amid his silly beef with Shane Gillis ... saying he understands the comedian was doing his job when cracking a joke about paying players during his legendary tenure at Alabama -- while proving he's got a sense of humor himself.

The "Tires" star initially made the comments on "College GameDay" earlier this month ... claiming Notre Dame is able to compete now that all schools allow student-athletes to get compensated for their accomplishments -- and not just Bama and the SEC in previous years.

Gillis claimed he was just teasing Saban -- who he referred to as "Alabama Jones" due to his hat choice that day -- and admitted he didn't REALLY think there was shady business going on in the conference.

Comedian Tim Dillon has a new motto for the healthcare industry ... joking as the ghost of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson that the company will "deny, defend, decompose."

The star appears in Netflix's "Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year" -- which dropped Friday on the streaming giant -- hopping onstage in a get-up reminiscent of what Thompson wore when he was shot in Manhattan earlier this month ... with chains added to the ensemble.

Dillon's ghoulish gray appearance was met with a pretty mixed reaction from the audience -- some cheers, some groans. Dillon clearly picked up on the tension ... breaking character for a moment and joking he's "going to hell for this, you might as well laugh."

Dick Capri -- a longtime actor and comedian -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Capri's son, Jeff, tells TMZ ... Dick was diagnosed with a bleeding enlarged aorta that was rendered inoperable because of his age.

Dick just kept living while knowing his time was coming to an end. He spent a nice Christmas with his son, his daughter-in-law and his life partner Wednesday ... and, the crew FaceTimed family that couldn't make it down to Florida for the holiday.

Netflix just released a trailer for "Happy Gilmore 2," and unsurprisingly the first speaking role in the preview is ... Travis Kelce.

Hard to believe ... it's been 3 decades since Adam Sandler played the failed ice hockey player who pivoted to golf.

There are a ton of celeb cameos in 'HG2' ... including Bad Bunny, Kid Cudi, Nick Swardson and Margaret Qualley. Julie Bowen is back, along with Christopher McDonald.

Stand-up comedian Tim Dillon's wading into one of the biggest stories of 2024 ... playing slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a Netflix special.

Here's the deal ... on Friday, Netflix is releasing "Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year" -- a roast taking a flamethrower to some of the biggest news stories from 2024 as we head into 2025.

Of course, arguably the biggest story of the year was the shooting death of Thompson earlier this month ... and sources familiar with the taping tell us that Dillon and Netflix didn't shy away from it.

Tony Rock says his brother Chris kills the gift-giving game every Christmas ... and, even makes up for the subpar presents their less successful brothers give them.

We caught up with the comedian at LAX Wednesday ... and, we had to ask him how Christmas works between the seven Rock siblings -- especially when it comes time to tear off the wrapping paper.

Tony says expectations are different for each Rock sibling -- joking that the family expects "sh***ier gifts from the brothers who aren't famous."

Friends of Na'im Lynn shouldn't expect any holiday cheer from the comedian ... he doesn't believe in gifting pals with presents or cards -- except for one A-list exception.

We caught up with the funny man at LAX, where the stand-up star explained his reasoning behind skipping gift exchanges with friends during the holiday season. As he put it ... he "never" buys holiday presents for his friends, declaring it's weird to give pals gifts for any reason.

He added ... "If you do buy a gift, you definitely can't give a card. First of all, there's no cards made for best friends. You've never seen that in the card section. You see mother, father, child, grandmother, secretary, love -- never for homies."

Comedian Corey Holcomb is being accused of punching another comic in the face outside a club earlier this month ... and, it's apparently all over a longstanding feud.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... comedian Cristina Payne was hanging outside the Hollywood Improv comedy club earlier this month when witnesses say Corey came up and started screaming at her and her friend.

Our sources say they were told Corey threatened to punch Cristina in the face ... so a man at the club that night got in between the two. Corey then allegedly swung over the man and hit Payne square in the face.

The celebrities showed up in style at a Broadway comedy stage event in New York City Monday night ... and the fashion was at peak level at the Hudson Theatre.

Check out our gallery of stylish looks on the red carpet of the "All In: Comedy About Love By Simon Rich" show, a collection of short stories acted onstage on the subjects of dating, marriage and other romantic entanglements.

Jon Hamm and Steve Martin showed up in different shades of autumnal green suits, with Hamm wearing a tight scarf, accessorizing with an umbrella for extra style points. Hamm's fellow Midwesterner David Letterman showed up in a navy blazer and matching turtleneck -- and two pairs of eyeglasses, just in case.

Chris Rock took aim at Luigi Mangione on "Saturday Night Live" this week, cracking a stinging joke that compared the alleged CEO shooter's looks to actor Jonah Hill.

The comedian walked out onstage for his cold open while hosting 'SNL' and dove right into the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, saying he felt bad for the man's family.

Chris then remarked about how everyone in the country is fixated on Mangione's good looks before hitting the punchline ... "If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already — he’d be dead."

Ice Cube says he didn't even have to raise an eyebrow when Andrew Schulz and his son O'Shea Jackson Jr. had their war of words regarding the Kendrick Lamar "rape" jokes -- Cube feels his son won the verbal combat with ease!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Cube at LAX on Thursday evening and we got his take on his infamous "No Vaseline" diss being used as a prop in Schulz's argument that his sexually graphic description of "making love" to Kendrick was fair game.

O'Shea Jr. hopped in the social media madness to defend K. Dot -- as did Meek Mill, Peter Rosenberg and others, and Cube tells us Schulz should just up his game ... and come with better jokes!!!

The "beef" has since fizzled and OJJ is now actively promoting his 'Den of Thieves 2' film.

Cube also has new product on the market -- his 11th album, "Man Down," which came in hot after its lead single "It's My Ego" marked an all-time peak on the Billboard Charts for the legendary rapper.