TV Review: Gays and Ladies Hit Late Night

"We definitely try to focus on things affecting women and LGBT people, and we definitely try to bully the bullies and go after the people who are going after us." Bryan Safi, producer, Throwing Shade

Bryan Safi (Homosensual) and Erin Gibson (Feminasty)

SERIES PREMIER: Throwing Shade on TV Land

Produced by: Erin Gibson, Bryan Safi, Andrew Steele, Anna Wenger and Joe Farrell for Funny or Die Productions. Showrunner - Charlie Siskel

A Socio-Political Snark Fest

There's a new late-night socio-political snark fest invading the Tuesday Night 10:30 Slot. It is TV Land's Throwing Shade. Already a hit in podcastland, the show now gets a shot at a broadcast audience. Throwing Shade has a manic, millienial nowness that might just be the perfect tonic for college educated viewers freaked out by our craven new world.

Echoes of SNL's Weekend Update come to mind, but this show throws off any newsroom fakery and give us pure, uncut Zeitgeist. Series creators/hosts Erin Gibson (a.k.a. “Feminasty”) and Bryan Safi (a.k.a. “Homosensual) are alums of the renowned Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. Both hosts have a broad, perfectly callibrated machine gun delivery that never seems to misfire.

These aren't just kids fidddling around with a web-cam, the podcast version of Throwing Shade has already earned it's spurs with two People's Choice Awards for best GLBT podcast two years in a row (2012,2013) and has been a web-sensation as both a podcast and video series since the shows creation in 2011. It is currently scheduled to tape nine episodes for TV Land.

The show opens with a East-Euro styled propaganda spot extolling the virtues of our leader (you know who), and then pinballs from newsy topics to skits and spots like 'Etsy on Ecstasy' and 'Your heard of this bitch?' We also have (Funny Or Die co-owner) Will Farrel (as a car mechanic) sharing mastabatory fantasies about the shop's pin-up calendar featuring Annie Leibovitz and Yoko Ono.

Throwing Shade goes pretty far out but stays in the zone with five-hour energy-pacing. Tailor made for the young-adult ADD crowd in need of some laughs with a side of truth.

Visit The Throwing Shade website at: http://www.throwingshade.com/#jumbotron

Valerie Milano is the well-connected Senior Editor and TV Critic at The Hollywood Times, a showbiz/promotions aggregate mainly for insiders. She used to write for Communications Daily, Hollywood Today, Television International, and Video Age International also freelancing for others. Valerie works closely with the Human Rights Campaign (Fed Club Member), the LGBT Center, and Outfest. She is also a member of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood. Milano loves meeting people and does so in fave getaway Palm Springs as a member of the Palm Springs Museum. For years Valerie Milano was a board member and one of the chief organizers for the Television Critics Association’s press tours. The tours take place twice a year in Beverly Hills/Pasadena.