Performing comedy for the first time — whether it's improv, sketch or standup — can be an intimidating experience, which keeps a lot of would-be first-timers from taking a stab at it. Luckily for panicky novices, though, there are several well-regarded programs that hold your hand through the getting-your-feet-wet process. While conventional wisdom seems to dictate that with standup, it's best to get started by performing at an open mic instead of taking standup classes, sketch and improv lend themselves more to curriculum and classes, and several well-regarded schools have popped up over the past several decades to help wannabe performers get started.

Philadelphia, the most populous city in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a town steeped in culture and history. While it is located just an hour and a half train ride outside of New York City, few have ever set foot there, lending credence to the popular myth that Philadelphia, once a thriving colonial metropolis, has long since washed away, earning it the nickname "America's Atlantis."

GLAAD points out that AMC's new Small Town Security is the only reality show that is currently featuring a trans man in its cast. That's great. "Lieutenant" Dennis Croft's portrayal is sensitive (at least it was in last night's series premiere) and allows him to articulate his transitioning, his gender identity, his lack of choice in the matter and all of those other things that deserve mentioning and repeating. It's an uncharacteristically even-handed move for the genre.

Last week, the blog world picked up an LA Times news story about a scientific study that had just been published in an academic journal, Communication, Culture and Critique. The title of the study: "Women (Not) Watching Women: Leisure Time, Television, and Implications for Televised Coverage of Women's Sports."

In response to a recent pledge by major Romney backer Sheldon Adelson to give the GOP presidential candidate as much as $100 million for his fight against the incumbent, comedienne Sarah Silverman has made a rather blunt counter-proposal: If the casino magnate promises to donate to Obama instead, she will don a bikini bottom and scissor him "to fruition" (i.e., until he cums).

In the economy, as in life, men are first in, last out, on top, and super successful. (And deserving.) Yes, the recession was a hard time for everyone. But everyone, whether man or woman, will be happy to learn that men are getting themselves back on track, more than women.

Everyone knows that conservative magazine National Review is not racist. Sure, it used to publish John "avoid concentrations of blacks" Derbyshire — but it's also treated race with sensitivity and restraint, as in this column about how President Obama isn't really black and this all-white symposium on black unemployment. So why is writer Jay Nordlinger using the ethnic slur "wetback" in his column today?

Wait, it gets better/worse: "Host / emcee Statutory Ray attempts to keep bacon from destroying his DJ mixer while two drunk half-naked ladies choke each other out in raw bacon while slipping in lard."

Donald J. Sobol, known to legions of kids around the world as the man behind the boy detective book series Encyclopedia Brown, passed away last Wednesday in Miami. He was 87.

After seeing one too many stock shots of bright umbrellas bobbing down a rainy street, Malcolm Bell, a British tourism official and head of VisitCornwall.com, snapped.

Following a judge's ruling allowing its release, prosecutors just made public testimony from an anonymous witness in the case of George Zimmerman — who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, in February — as well as phone calls Zimmerman made from jail.

Improv Everywhere agents give a bunch of random kids the PGA experience by turning a regular mini-golf game into a full-fledged Open Championship, complete with caddies, commentators, and an honest-to-goodness Claret Jug.

A 26-year-old Florida man was shot and killed by Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies early Sunday morning after being mistaken for attempted murder suspect Jonathan Brown.

Last night's Season 5 premiere of Breaking Bad was mostly low-key, aside from the caper above, in which Walter and Jesse attempt to wipe out a laptop's hard drive with magnets from outside of where it's being held as evidence. ("Yeah, bitch! Magnets! Oh!")

Mitt Romney's getting stomped in the news cycle, about outsourcing, wealth and Bain Capital. While it's no surprise that he's accidentally one of the people raining down the fiercest blows, it's stunning to see that the other people are Republicans and Democrats. Honest, real Democrats. Not New Black Panthers controlled by UN mind beams from Obama's home in that black cube in Mecca.

A large group of platonic male acquaintances' Sunday bike ride was derailed yesterday after someone placed tacks along the route of the Tour de France's 14th stage.

At a Make It Funky jam a few years back, Canadian DJ Robb G "loses his cool" after a female attendee rushes the stage and attempts to physically grab his attention.

To hear the locals tell it, during the town's mayoral election some 15 years ago, residents who were unhappy with the candidate selection were encouraged to write in the name of a newly born kitten instead.

As the entire legal profession has crumbled into little more than a white collar version of janitorial services, times have gotten tough—not just for recent law school grads, but for everyone unfortunate enough to work at a law firm. Naturally, the days of luxurious, opulent law firm offices are over. Uh... in favor of something better!

Some 8,000 former patients of Colorado-based dentist Stephen Stein were told by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to seek testing for HIV and hepatitis after learning that the suspended dentist had a nasty habit of reusing needles and syringes.