Tom Shillue » Blog

I’m in this movie, with Josh Alexander.

Tom — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:10:12 +0000

The Bits In Between
I play myself. A comedian named Tom Shillue.

Next Podcast- Tom and Agnes sing

Tom — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:53:11 +0000

This is a test for the next podcast.

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the actress

Tom — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:56:09 +0000

with the brilliant Ann Carr and Christina Gausas.

Don’t Watch This

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:37:12 +0000

George Lucas on How to Ruin Things

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:25:03 +0000

This interview with George Lucas, specifically this response, is a wonderfully succinct answer to “Why were the last three Star Wars films so terrible?”

Q: But the second trilogy certainly had a built-in audience.

GL: Yeah, everyone says the second trilogy was a slam dunk. But there was a lot of controversy around here about the fact that I wasn’t doing the obvious — I wasn’t doing the commercial version of what people expected. People expected Episode III, which is where Anakin turns into Darth Vader, to be Episode I. And then they expected Episodes II and III to be Darth Vader going around cutting people’s heads off and terrorizing the universe. But how did he get to be Darth Vader? You have to explore him in relationships, and you have to see where he started. He was a sweet kid, helpful, just like most people imagine themselves to be. Most people said, “This guy must have been a horrible little brat — a demon child.” But the point is, he wasn’t born that way — he became that way and thought he was doing the right thing. He eventually realizes he’s going down the dark path, but he thinks it’s justifiable. The idea is to see how a democracy becomes a dictatorship, and how a good person goes bad — and still, in the end, thinks he’s doing the right thing.

OK, so he admits that he realized we all wanted to see Darth Vader cutting peoples heads off, and he does just the opposite, forcing everyone to “explore relationships.” You know who likes to explore relationships? My wife. And she walked out of Star Wars, when she was in junior high school! I love that Lucas reported that most people said “This guy must have been a horrible little brat — a demon child.” Really? What people, all the parents at your local PTA meeting?

The whole interview at Wired.

Ping Pong Love

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:30:14 +0000

I shot this with director Mark Tiedemann in Germany on a Sunday morning after a commercial shoot. We were talking about the idea in the hotel bar the night before with a couple of German guys and we all said, “let’s shoot it!” Usually when that happens, everyone wakes up and says, “Nice idea, but let’s not.” But we didn’t do that. We shot it in the apartment of one of the German guys, and it took half a day. You can see Mark’s other stuff here.

Portland with The Moth

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:19:17 +0000

This was in the Portland paper after my recent trip there with The Moth. A good review!

The ghost of Garrison Keillor, indeed, hung over the preternaturally easy nature of host Tom Shillue, although he looked a bit more like a cross between a slender Dick Gephardt and Conan O’Brien. Shillue’s humor was broad Caucasian-ethnic: peppered with jokes about how Jews don’t know the difference between Protestants and Catholics, how Italians talk close and funny. I liked him. He was, like Bill Cosby and Ellen DeGeneres and very few others, a humanist comedian un-full of anger. He also reminded me of mid-century Hollywood’s idea of a virtuous small-town mayor, albeit a Catholic one.

I Hung with Salman Rushdie

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:23:28 +0000

At last week’s Moth event at Galapagos in Brooklyn, “You Say You Want a (R)evolution,” host Tom Shillue compared the uniforms of US soldiers and Afghanistan rebels to the stylings of Storm Troopers and Jedi knights from Star Wars. If that piques your interest, catch him tonight at The Green Room.

Moth in Pittsburgh

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:43:41 +0000

Building a Bridge: Stories from Both Sides
with host Tom Shillue and local storyteller Terrance Hayes

Emceed by Tom Shillue (regular Daily Show contributor) and with a soundtrack provided by UkuLizzy (aka Liz Hammond), the storytellers entertained and entwined the audience with true stories on the theme “Building a Bridge: Stories from Both Sides”.

Places like this always call me a “Daily Show Regular” even though I haven’t been for a decade. But it’s in my past resume’, and they like to write it, so I don’t go correcting them.

Inside Mystery Team

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:57:53 +0000

Sean McCarthy writes about the film:

Derrick comedy has a laugh-out-loud hilarious, dark comedy movie on their hands, and if all things go well, soon enough, there will be a distribution deal for Mystery Team. How do I know this? I managed to get in on one of the intimate free screenings in New York City earlier this week, and talked to four-fifths of the team behind Mystery Team

read the rest…

“Things Tom Learned…”

Tom — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:54:00 +0000

A new podcast! It can’t be! Yes, it can. This one was recently recorded live at the 92Y in Soho.This one is really more of a reading. Well, it is a reading, actually.

Get the Podcast Here

Comic’s Comic SprNrml

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:55:54 +0000

Onion – Suicide Vest

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:08:43 +0000

In The Know: New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

“Muticultural Values” Tom Shillue Live Comedy Podcast #512

Tom — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:07:00 +0000

Find out why Tom values multiculturalism.

Get the Podcast Here

“Thanks, Dad” Tom Shillue Podcast #511

Tom — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:37:00 +0000

Tom is back! Hear his excuses about why he took so long to post another podcast. Also, why is Tom so interested in the goings on between fathers and their children? Did your father show up at every little league game? And learn about the perils of a New York Sunday brunch.
“It’s all about the story”. Stand-Up Comedian Tom Shillue (from Comedy Central Presents: Tom Shillue) lives up to his reputation as New York’s best comic storyteller with this improvised monologue, recorded live in New York City, at the famed Moonwork: Evening of Original Works.

Get the Podcast Here