The January issue of Vanity Fair is the magazine’s first-ever ‘All-Star Comedy Issue’ and the inside pages are indeed packing some pretty impressive comedic chops. It’s guest-edited by Judd Apatow, and the names splashed across the cover include (deep breath): Albert Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Lena Dunham, Louis C.K., Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Zach Galifinakis, the Freaks & Geeks crew, Martin Short, Zooey Deschanel, and Dozens More.
(Dozens More! I saw that guy at the Improv back in 2007. Hi-lar.)
(Yep. Can’t believe I wasn’t invited to participate in the Comedy Issue. Can you?)
ANYWAY. Speaking of the cover, there are three of them. Each featuring a different foursome of comedy all-star powerhouses. Or. Well. Hang on, you’ll see what I mean:
Cover number one:
Jim Carrey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Will Ferrell.
A solid line-up, though I’d challenge anyone to name the last genuinely funny Jim Carrey movie you saw. Bonus points if you saw it in the theater. I’m guessing he’s this cover’s token Lifetime Achievement award, but since both Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show are two of my all-time favorite movies, I’ll give Carrey a pass. (Despite those movies not necessarily being, you know, comedies.)
Cover number two:
Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Kristen Wiig and Ben Stiller.
Other than Wiig, this cover seems to be the least pulse-on-what’s-happening-in-comedy-NOW focused. This is the one full of familiar faces that people who have never heard of Louis C.K., Donald Glover, Aziz Ansari or Tig Notaro will buy. But the styling is at least pretty good and I think we can all be grateful that they put Jerry Seinfeld in the Austin Powers get-up rather than, you know, Austin Powers. (Or Jack Black as Austin Powers. Or Russell Brand and Borat as Fat Bastard. OH GOD.)
And finally, cover number three:
Leslie Mann, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Rudd and…
*record scratch*
Megan Fox? The hellllll?
Definitely can’t argue with McCarthy and Rudd’s inclusion, and Leslie Mann IS Mrs. Judd Apatow so fine, nepotism, and fine, she looks AWESOME, but…Megan Fox? There is no planet on which that one makes sense.
Except on the planet where Tina Fey had a scheduling conflict and canceled at the last minute.
And then Vanity Fair called up Kristen Schaal, Rebel Wilson, Mindy Kaling, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Allison Brie, Wanda Sykes, Emma Stone, Aubrey Plaza, Retta, Lizzy Caplan, Megan Mullally, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch, Rachel Dratch, Alyson Hannigan, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Sofia Vergara, Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro AND Betty White and they were all too busy too.
I bet that’s exactly what happened, you guys. Yup.
About Amy Corbett Storch
