[Defend Yourself] 
In his stand-up, Myq Kaplan delivers punchlines at rapid-fire speed. Even before he was the resident assistant in my building,
[Defend Yourself] 
Lewis Black once sat next to me at a Radiohead concert, and then left early in something of a displeased tiff. He looked angry. I wondered, is he angry all the time? Now I know the shocking truth: not really. He's mainly just gently ornery, in an agreeable, get-the-hell-off-my-lawn kind of way. Onstage, Black is what you call a screamer, a member of the hilarious but tiny fraternity of stand-up comedians whose brothers have included Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks. And, with those two long gone, few comics out there manage to touch absurd brilliance with flailing, shouting and cursing the way that Black does. Given the venom of his political material, it's surprising to realize that Black might be the biggest name in the comedy world not also reviled by some large sector of it, unlike cable guys (or Dane Cooks) that we could name. Part of the reason must be his affection and dedication to stand-up itself, along with a relentless touring schedule that has him coming back to Boston in a month for a book tour. We talked about Radiohead, his years as a playwright, and his impending 60th birthday. Oh, and we also talked about how his bus almost hit a car during this interview.
HOW ARE YOU?
Ah, it gets better every day, doesn't it?
I SAT NEXT TO YOU DURING A RADIOHEAD PERFORMANCE SOME YEARS AGO AT BONNAROO. YOU WALKED OUT EARLY.
It didn't make sense. I've never really listened much to them. And I was kind of excited. And then I thought, "Hmmm...this is a long night."
[Defend Yourself] 
Harland Williams is the rare Late Night guest that nearly matches Conan O'Brien in weirdness inch-for-inch.
[Defend Yourself] 
Somehow we've been missing out on the grimy, wry indie of Black Helicopter all these years.
[Defend Yourself] 
It takes 10 seconds of watching Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! to know if you worship it
[Defend Yourself] 
When ABC turned Margaret Cho's life into the sitcom All-American Girl, she jokes that executives essentially said she was too fat to play herself.
[Defend Yourself] 
Everything about this is wrong. My meticulously constructed defense mechanisms, ironic detachment and deliberate intellectual laziness have been blown to smithereens. I want to believe people aren't as stupid as they seem to be on television.
[Defend Yourself] 
DEFEND YOURSELF!
Since their 2002 debut album Knife Play, Xiu Xiu (pronounced "shoe shoe") has made more than their niche in the post punk apocalyptic universe of sound. Known for tackling morbid topics like sexual abuse and working with cacophonous noise samples, masthead and lyricist Jamie Stewart has spent his six year musical career making listeners uncomfortable. With the band's newest album, Women As Lovers, Stewart tries pop and poetry on for size.
[Defend Yourself] 
DEFEND YOURSELF!
RICK RO$$
By Isabelle Davis
In 2006, Rick Ro$$ (born William Roberts) let us know just how much hustled (Every day—Ed.), and just like that he became an overnight sensation, albeit over a decade in the making. No longer was he the ghostwriter behind many hip-hop hits on Slip-N-Slide and beyond, but was now a bona fide Def Jam star, repping the land of Luke. Look for the behemoth of a man on tour this spring in support of his March release, Trilla.
[Defend Yourself] 
Hooper Piccalero is Matt Plummer on bass trombone, Lauren Strobel and Danilo Henriquez on trumpet, and Derek Beckvold on baritone sax. They play experimental music and prank call radiohosts. We talk to Matt Plummer to ask WTF? is with that.
