It’s So Funny Isn’t So Funny

Stern, serious, socialist North Korea has carved out a spot in TV history for having one of the world’s longest running comedy shows, despite it being mostly devoid of jokes for the decades it has been on the air.

The show now called “It’s So Funny” is meant to uplift the morale of troops and extol propaganda about the virtues of serving under “The General” Kim Jong-il. Laughter is optional — unless the soldiers in the audience are ordered to do so.

The format of the show is usually a conversation between a man and a woman in military uniform, who sometimes sing, dance and try a little slapstick, but mostly avoid telling one-liners.

“Often, it is really hard to find the humor,” said a South Korean official who monitors the North’s official broadcasts.

“This type of show has been on since almost the beginning of the state’s official programing (in the 1970s),” he said.

The latest version that came out in the past week extolled the virtue of beans, while avoiding any flatulence humor.

It opened with the man soldier saying to the woman soldier he feels better and looks more handsome because he has been taking medicine made from beans.

Sarah Palin Drops LL Cool J

An upcoming Fox News Channel special hosted by Sarah Palin is titled “Real American Stories.”  But rapper-actor LL Cool J says his participation in the show was bogus. In response, the network has snipped him from the program.

In a Twitter posting, the entertainer wrote that Fox “lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW.”

Country singer Toby Keith was similarly caught by surprise, his publicist said.

Elaine Schock said a radio reporter contacted her seeking details about Keith’s announced appearance on Palin’s Fox News program.

“I said, ‘You’re wrong. There is no Sarah Palin special with Toby Keith on it on Fox,’” Schock said.

She said the reporter then e-mailed her the press release issued by Fox News, which said Keith would “explain the inspiration behind his song ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.’”

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Vicky Rosti And Boulevard

Sata Salamaa (One Hundred Lightnings) was the Finnish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, performed in Finnish by Vicky Rosti and Boulevard.

The song is sung from the perspective of a woman telling her lover that, regardless of the adversity (the “hundred lightnings” of the title) they face in their love, “There’s a thousand worlds out there, and one of them is ours” – in other words, they will triumph in the end. Rosti also recorded the song in English, then under the title Fire Night.  At the close of voting,  the song had received 32 points, placing 15th in a field of 22.

Virve “Vicky” Rosti (born November 10, 1958) is a Finnish singer of popular music.  Her most famous songs include Kun Chicago Kuoli (the debut single, 1975, a Finnish language cover version of  The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace), Tuolta Saapuu Charlie Brown (Here Comes Charlie Brown), Menolippu (One-Way Ticket), Oon Voimissain (I Will Survive) and Jolene.

Here’s Vicky singing the Finnish version of Gloria Gaynor’s mega hit I Will Survive (Oon Voimissain) on the TV show Toivotaan Toivotaan in 1979:

Like that on? Now check out Vicky’s 1975 video of The Night Chicago Died ( Kun Chicago Kuoli):

Check out Maria Ylipää and Mikko Leppilampi singing Sata Salamaa on January 1, 2010 in Helsinki:

Reality TV Addicts Get Married Naked On Their 50th Show Appearance

The couple’s faces look strangely familiar… and so do their bodies.

Telly addicts Graham Winston-Peters and fiancée Ivy Pink are back on the box – getting married in the nude, as they chalk up more than 50 reality TV shows.

The ceremony, to be shown on British TV, will be the latest of several milestones in their lives played out on camera.

The couple also got engaged on All Star Mr and Mrs, went property-hunting on A Place In The Sun, went on holiday with Coach Trip, had C4′s Colin and Justin give their home a makeover and even discussed their medical problems – in the nude – on Embarrassing Bodies.

And now Ivy even wants to give birth to their second child on TV.

Antiques dealer Graham said: “We have literally lived our lives out on the TV. We get a buzz out of the cameras rolling and our personalities just shine through. Everything we do we love doing it on telly. We’d love to be in a real life Truman Show.”

Sacha Baron Cohen Guides The Simpsons Through Jerusalem

For once, Jews, Christians and Muslims will be united — in anger at Homer Simpson, who in an upcoming episode of “The Simpsons” believes he’s the messiah.

Set to air nationally March 28 — the Sunday before Passover begins and Palm Sunday — “The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed” finds the Simpson family visiting Jerusalem with a surly Israeli tour guide voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Executive producer Al Jean, who has been with “The Simpsons” since its launch in 1989, says the episode focuses exclusively on the family’s experiences in Jerusalem and doesn’t venture into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“It’s a 20-minute show, so there’s a limited scope,” he said.

Instead, Jean says, the writers drew on their own Israel experiences to create a Jerusalem that’s fanciful but relatable to real life in the Holy Land.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Azerbaijan Now Favored To Win

A 17-old Azerbaijani singer is the early favorite to win the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for May 27 in Oslo, Norway.

British and Norwegian bookmakers have reportedly listed Safura Alizadeh’s sentimental entry Drip-Drop as the likeliest candidate to prevail in the annual glitz fest. Alizadeh, known as Safura, is followed in the rankings by Israel’s Harel Skaat, the United Kingdom’s Online Betting Guide reported.

The contest tends to reflect political fault lines in Europe and its periphery. During last year’s contest in Moscow, for example, a submission from Georgia was disqualified for taking a disco swipe at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Learn more about Safura right here.

Discovery Snatches Sarah Palin

Several Hollywood trade publications report that Discovery will pay more than $1 million per episode for the reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” It may be her Alaska, but no word yet on whose reality it is.

Producers began pitching the series earlier this month, billing it as a show about Alaska seen through Palin’s eyes and shot in the style of Discovery’s “Planet Earth,” feasting on the state’s natural beauty.

The Discovery Channel’s latest nature project, “Life,” debuted Sunday with the network’s best ratings for a new series in a decade. The series, four years in the making, shows animal footage in eye-catching high definition. It had 11.8 million viewers for its first episode.

Alaska is already the setting for one of cable TV’s most popular series, “Deadliest Catch.” The Discovery Channel series follows fishermen trying to make their living in the forbidding waters off Alaska.

Palin has been busy on TV in recent months, having signed on as an analyst for the Fox News Channel. She also appeared on “The Tonight Show,” where she performed a stand-up routine.

Sian Williams Says She’ll Deliver The News Naked

BBC news presenter Sian Williams said she would read the news naked to prove her clothes budget should be tax deductible.

The Breakfast anchorwoman tried to deduct more than £4,500 for clothes, a hairdo and laundry from her earnings to get away with paying less tax on her income.

Sian, 45, who took over from Natasha Kaplinsky in 2005, argued nice clothes and hair were essential for her work, and should be tax deductible.

When she was stopped from making the claim by the taxman she appealed to a tribunal where her lawyer claimed she would lose her job if she frequently wore the same clothes on television.

He added: “She would be prepared to wear no clothing when performing her job but is required to do so by her employer.”

But the tribunal dismissed her appeal.

Cable Network Flips Playboy And Children’s Channel

Young viewers of children’s television programs in North Carolina got a glimpse of something far more risque than their favorite cartoons, when a cable glitch broadcast two hours of the Playboy channel.

“Due to a technical malfunction, some adult programs had been diverted on children’s networks,” Time Warner Cable vice president of public relations Alex Dudley told AFP on Wednesday.

“We sincerely apologize.”

The equipment failure, which took place between 6:15 and 8:15 am on Tuesday, beamed previews of adult shows with scantily clad women striking suggestive poses and talking dirty into a portion of the Kids on Demand and Preschool on Demand channels, local media reported.

The cable operator reportedly learned of the glitch when worried parents alerted them to the problem.

Eurovision 2010 Update: Sweden Goes With Anna Bergendahl

One of the most awaited national finals this year took place in Stockholm’s golfball Globen Arena: Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s most successful TV-show and the nation’s way to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Approximately 4 million viewers followed the exciting event after a string of semi-finals had been held in various Swedish cities. Out of ten songs on stage tonight, it was finally Anna Bergendahl singing This Is My Life who got the maximum points and will now represent Sweden in Europe’s favourite TV-show.

In the final, a mix of Melodifestivalen veterans and newcomers took part. Darin, Timoteij, Salem Al Fakir, Anna Bergendahl and Eric Saade were all new to the festival while the others had at least participated once before. One of them, Jessica Andersson, had actually represented Sweden before as one half of the duo Fame which reached a respectable 5th place in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga.