comedy

Suck it in! New mama Christina Applegate appeared on The Tonight Show last night to talk about her highly anticipated new show Up All Night. On the way to tape the show, the actress sent out a hilariously revealing tweet that read, "On my way to the Tonight Show. Spend a little time with Jay. My spanx are so tight I feel I may faint. Good times . . ."

When Leno complimented the actress on her postbaby body, the never-shy Christina jokingly responded "Don't let all the girdles fool you! I have this thing on called a Mother Tucker. It's for mothers, and it's a tucker!" Mother Tuckers are compression tanks that smooth and shape the midsection and, like Spanx, are a must have among new Hollywood mamas. See how the new mama describes the shaping garment, how she's handling new motherhood, and what a "bed day" is in the clip above!

With an upcoming special on BBC America and book slated for a Fall debut, we caught up with Nerdist Chris Hardwick for more details on the TV show, viral video culture, and his nerdiest facts.

Taking the Nerdist blog and podcast format to television, Chris's half-hour BBC America comedy special called, Nerdist, naturally, will air on Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. Joining the show to talk all things nerd and pop culture will be infamous Doctor Who fan and talk show host Craig Ferguson and the not-so-secret special guest: the doctor himself, Matt Smith.

You may remember him as host of dating game shows Singled Out and the under-the-radar gem, Shipmates, but with his place as unofficial ambassador of current geek culture, we asked Chris for his expert take on all things nerd.

Follow the break for more of Chris's nerd picks and his choice for victor of the ultimate Star Trek battle.

NBC is turning Chelsea Handler's bestselling Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea into a sitcom and has cast actress Laura Prepon to play a younger Chelsea in the series pilot.

If Laura looks familiar, think back to That '70s Show (push Mila Kunis aside), and you'll remember Laura as the object of Eric Forman's (Topher Grace) obsession. Who knows if the show will even make it to the small screen — though it certainly has promise with Chelsea's increasing star power — but for now let's see what the two Chelseas have in common.

• New Jersey: Yes, they both hail from not just Jersey, but northern New Jersey. They are living proof that there's more to Jersey than the Shore.
• Youngest of big families: "I don't know what happened in your life that caused you to develop a sense of humor as a coping mechanism," 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy once said to Liz Lemon, "Maybe it was some sort of brace or corrective boot you wore during childhood." More likely, she was the youngest. Chelsea is the baby of six children, and Laura should have no trouble sympathizing as she's the youngest of five.
• Made sexy women lists: Chelsea was ranked #91 on 2009's Maxim Hot 100, and Laura made her own, albeit less known, hot list. In 2002, she was named one of the 102 Sexiest Women of the Year by Stuff Magazine.

Have any to add?

I grew up watching Murphy Brown peripherally: too young to fully get it or care to get it, but exposed to it when my parents watched it. I knew it was an important show, though. In its 10-year run, it was nominated for 62 Emmy awards and won 18. Candice Bergen won Best Lead Actress in a Comedy five times — the standing record for a continuing role — and she withdrew her name for consideration after the fifth. It was one of the first shows to make a woman over 40 the main character, and the fact she was a powerful, unmarried journalist who eventually became a single mom was a scandalous game-changer.

Last night Candice and the show's creator Diane English sat down to talk about the impact of Murphy Brown (Connie Chung was supposed to moderate, but the weather kept her in New York) as part of the SF Sketchfest in San Francisco. It began with a viewing of the series' most famous and notorious episode — where Murphy has her baby — and then Candice and Diane talked like old friends in front of 300 or so people for an hour. And as someone who thought Murphy Brown was a real person for most of the '90s, I learned at least five things.

• Brought middle-age women to TV: While CBS pushed for someone young and fun — Heather Locklear was the network's favorite — Diane English felt it was vital that Murphy be 40-ish. "There were no women over 40 on TV at the time," she said, "except the Golden Girls."
• Merged current affairs into TV: "My goal was always to blend fiction and nonfiction, said Diane, "to make Candice Murphy Brown." They made fake covers of Time and Newsweek with journalist Murphy Brown on the covers, and eventually that became reality, as Candice covered the same magazines. Real journalists and politicians guest-starred, and each week DC bigwigs hoped to be name checked on the political satire. In fact, when Diane Sawyer left 60 Minutes, The New York Times ran a poll — Who Should Take Her Place? — and Murphy Brown won.
• Provided a new role model for women: Women immediately took to Murphy, even before the show became hugely popular. "She had none of the traditional disease to please," said Candice. "She would just speak her mind and didn't care whether she was liked."
• Improved women's position in TV industry: With Diane behind the scenes, it's no surprise Murphy Brown's writer's room had an even estrogen-testosterone balance, but that was still rare in 1988 when the show began. Diane said the opportunities for women in TV have improved drastically in the last 20 years because "men are no longer uncomfortable with women in the writer's room." Film, however, is still an old boys' club, she said, "I could spend another panel talking about women in film."

But the most lasting impact of all came when this fictional character dared to have a baby on her own, and the Republican Party took single motherhood on as its cause célèbre. Read about it below.

Vag Magazine, a new Internet comedy out this week, parodies a group of creative, urban (OK, I'm just going to say it, "hipster") women starting a third-wave feminist magazine. They acquired it after buying out a fictional, and once indomitable, fashion mag with proceeds from their Etsy store. Since we fancy ourselves a feminist publication, I spoke to its creators, comedy writers Leila Cohan-Miccio and Caitlin Tegart, this morning.

The two met at New York's improv theater, Upright Citizen's Brigade. After working together on a sketch comedy about Smith College, they went where all good Smith women go: a feminist magazine.

Read more of what they had to say below.