Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/98322
When Comedy Kills Mel Brooks Strikes Back! is a mercilessly funny interview TV by DEAN ROBBINS In Mel Brooks Strikes Back! (Saturday, 3 p.m., HBO), Brooks discusses his long career in movies, TV and theater. To say that you will be laughing until you fall out of your chair and lose consciousness is an understatement. This is a comedian who can kill just by telling you what he had for lunch — and, indeed, he does often tell you, food being one of his obsessions. Brooks came from one of those Brooklyn Jewish households that seem to breed comic obsessions. He took the classic route from the Borscht Belt to Hollywood, and you sense that he could spin hilarious yarns about his misadventures as long as HBO kept the camera rolling. In his 80s, Brooks has lost none of his earthiness, though the occasional reference to Proust and Pirandello suggests an intellectual lurking behind the poop jokes. My favorite story is about his real-life experience fighting the Nazis in World War II (Nazis being another of his obsessions). In the middle of a battle, Brooks says, he loudly sang "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye," earning applause from the Germans. If even the Nazis found this guy entertaining, you can bet you will, too. Glam Fairy Sunday, 9 pm (Style) Brash, bossy Alexa Prisco runs the Hoboken beauty salon the Glam Factory, staffed by a team of her "Glam Fairies." Life has been complicated in the second season of her reality series, as she deals with wedding and baby plans while ruling her self-proclaimed "glam-pire." Episodes descend into hysteria, anger and resentment, as the Glam Fairies screw up and Alexa screams at them. You get so caught up in the whirlwind that it scarcely registers how low the stakes are — basically, whether the clients' makeup is or isn't properly applied. "MORE WORK, LESS SOCIALIZING!" Alexa yells, so fiercely that you, the viewer, will involuntarily stop socializing yourself. I'll miss Glam Fairy after this week's season finale. But, to be honest, it might be nice to have some peace and quiet over the holidays. My nerves need a rest. The Iranian Americans Tuesday, 10 pm (PBS) This documentary focuses on the tens of thousands of Iranians who've fled to the United States. The majority of them arrived after the Iranian Revolution brought the repressive Ayatollah Khomeini to power in the 1970s. The interviewees movingly describe their dreams of the U.S. before they got here. One woman remembers having a Barbie Dreamhouse as a girl and imagining life in America to be similar to Barbie and Ken's. The Iranian Americans chronicles the bumpy road to assimilation. The Iranians expatriates faced tremendous hostility, especially while Khomeini held Americans hostage. They endured "Iranians Go Home" graffiti and bricks thrown through their windows; many began referring to themselves as Greek or Italians to stave off disaster. Such is life in Barbie's Dreamhouse. The Voice Tuesday, 9 pm (NBC) The singing competition outdoes American Idol with better contestants and more exciting production numbers. The judges, however, are incapable of making a perceptive comment about the performances. Christina Aguilera, in particular, is arguably the most inarticulate celebrity on reality television. Her contributions usually boil down to: "Um, yeah, it's like, I mean…." That said, I am looking forward to seeing which talented singer prevails in tonight's live season finale. With luck, Aguilera will be moved to utter a complete sentence. For the Holidays We're brewing good times! • DINING • ENTERTAINING • CRAFT BEER 40 405 Hay St. • Historic Downtown Fayetteville 910-437-9905 www.huskehardware.com 20 UCW DECEMBER 12-18, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM