MY FRIENDS ARE SOOO TALENTED!!!
I have so many talented friends and they make me so proud. EXCUSE ME WHILE I KVELL.
MY FRIEND ELOISE MUMFORD IS SOOO TALENTED!
Eloise is a phenomenally good actress who you might recognize from the 2010 Fox drama Lone Star if you watched one of the two episodes before it got cancelled, or, more likely, from a reading of a play I did back in 2007 if you are my friend. Starting February 7th, she’s starring on ABC’s new thriller The River, and everybody should watch it and make it a big hit. Also, Eloise spent the summer between shooting the pilot and the series volunteering for the local soup kitchen and Habitat for Humanity. WHAT A MENSCH!
MY FRIEND PETER ATENCIO IS SOOO TALENTED!
Peter directed every sketch of every episode of the upcoming Key & Peele on Comedy Central. I went to a taping of two episodes last week and I had a blast. Key and Peele have a fantastic chemistry, the show is written by a stable of wonderful writers (including Charlie Sanders who is also my friend and who is also SOOO TALENTED), and Peter’s artful direction gives many of the pieces a short film feel that transcends typical sketch comedy. Key & Peele premieres January 31st on Comedy Central.
MY FRIEND ADAM CONOVER IS SOOO TALENTED!
I used to live with Adam in Brooklyn and it was more or less like this. Now, Adam’s in LA for three months writing for a sketch show on Vh1 called Stevie TV. I have no idea when it premieres — March, I think? But everyone should watch it and talk about it and post screen caps on tumblr, even if it’s bad, because if there’s a second season, maybe they’ll fly Adam back out to LA next year so I can spend more time with one of my best friends.
MY FRIEND EMILY HARPER IS SOOO TALENTED!
Emily produces award shows. Most recently she was a coordinating producer for the Critics Choice Movie Awards, and right now she’s starting to put together the MTV Movie Awards. Emily is also one of the people who inspired me to go vegan, although now she’s a raw foodist and that is too weird for me. She also has a small job on the Oscars this year! She has to visit the sets of the parody video shoots and make sure they match the movies they’re parodying. So if you’re watching the Academy Awards this year and you think, wow, this stupid bit really looks like the scene from that movie, remember that’s my friend Emily and she is SOOO TALENTED.
MY FRIEND DAN GREGOR IS SOOO TALENTED!
Dan is a writer for How I Met Your Mother, and last year he and his writing partner wrote the episode where Neil Patrick Harris gets to know his dad Jon Lithgow and it was the best episode of the season. They also wrote the episode that aired last night with Alyson Hannigan’s dad Chris Elliott. I guess dads is their thing? Anyway, it was hilarious because Dan Gregor is hilarious.
MY FRIEND DAVE SEGAL IS SOOO TALENTED!
Every once in a while, Dave starts a new blog, and they’re all fantastic. Most recently, he’s been keeping shop at davesegal.com, writing about whatever strikes his fancy. Dave’s writing is precise, persuasive, hilarious, and quietly moving when he wants to be, such as in this great essay about the incredible power of one sad song, and I can’t wait to see where this new blog goes.
MY FRIEND NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER IS SOOO TALENTED!
Natasha is a writer! But not like a bullshit TV writer like all my other friends; she is a journalist! She’s most famous for writing this great book about Mad Men, but she also does work for important periodicals like The Atlantic. Just today, GQ published the latest in her ongoing column about movies: a reevaluation of American Beauty, which she hilariously describes as “a pitifully pre-9/11 movie: We were prosperous! There’s no war! We have a good economy! Yet we are still sad!” Astute observation, Natasha! You are SOOO TALENTED.
