Who: Gilbert Gottfried, interviewed by Judy Gold
What: “Gilbert Gottfried with Judy Gold”
Where: 92 Y
When: November 7, 2011
Thumbs: Up, in a way that offends someone

The original “Culture Warrior” Bill O’Reilly began his program last night with a lengthy discussion on how pop culture is destroying America with Laura Ingraham. Ke$ha, Rihanna, tattoos, and “prosti-tots,” Ingraham railed, were besieging the youth psyche in such a way that parents must unite to save the nation’s future. It was standard fare for the Factor, but made it all the more surreal when, at the end of the program, he unveiled the day’s “Patriot”: Mila Kunis, star of a film about two best friends having sex with each other to avoid actual relationships.

It’s a holiday weekend, so we’re sure most of you are about to hunker down after a day of grilling and beaching and watch a nice romantic comedy. Maybe that one about those friends who decide to sleep together noncommittally. You know, the one with that actress from Black Swan and that other guy that was really famous in the early Aughts, who get into a sticky situation because they fall in love in the process? Yeah, that one. Wait– what?

Former Arkansas Governor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee attracted a fair amount of attention last week for some provocative comments he made towards Natalie Portman‘ out-of-wedlock pregnancy as well as claims of Barack Obama‘s familiarity with the Mau-Mau revolution since he “grew up in Kenya.” Last night Stephen Colbert mocked Huckabee for getting it wrong, saying “Obama didn’t grow up in Kenya, he was born there. He grew up in Islamistan!”

Mike Huckabee may be backtracking all over the place about his comments that Natalie Portman was somehow detrimental to society by virtue of being pregnant out of wedlock, but one point he isn’t ceding is that single mothers are universally impoverished and miserable. At least one single mother begged to differ on The Last Word last night: Professor Melissa Harris Perry, who understandably appeared to take some personal offense at his comments.

Mike Huckabee vs. Natalie Portman is somehow turning out to be the feud of the week, and in visiting the crew of Fox & Friends this morning, the former Arkansas governor revisited his comments to explain his argument was not a moral one, but an “economic” one. Giving Portman his full support and once again asserting she “deserved her Oscar,” Huckabee persisted in his point that the children of single mothers are more likely to live in poverty.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee continued his campaign to unseat Charlie Sheen as shiny media object of the moment by slamming Best Actress winner Natalie Portman for her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Huckabee took Portman to task Thursday, in an appearance on Mike Medved‘s radio show, for “glamoriz(ing)” single motherhood, an opinion he shares with Fox News colleague Sarah Palin. Like Palin, though, Huckabee also seems unaware of the existence of Bristol Palin.

Over the course of 2010, we covered an array of politicians, authors, entertainers, media mavens, and others as they discussed their crafts and their industries. We enjoyed most of the panels, lectures, and debates we took in, while some of them fell short. Here, a rundown of our 5 favorites, followed by the 10 quotes that defined the year in New York City media panels:

We’ve written a thing or two about Glenn Beck‘s soon-to-be Bestseller The Overton Window.

But like any extremely popular book series, and our money is on The Overton Window to begin a thriller series, there is the inevitable movie adaptation. Would it work for Beck’s book? Absolutely! (Well, maybe.)

Something odd happened at the New York Times “Times Talks” conversation with Natalie Portman on Sunday. Forty five minutes into the panel, Portman quickly ran off the stage. Healy, without offering justification, then announced a delay in the panel. The audience sat awkwardly for a few minutes. Then they dimmed the lights to show a clip. Then security came out and removed a guy from the front row.

The newest trailer for the upcoming comic book adaptation Kick-Ass is getting a lot of attention on Twitter today, thanks to tweets and re-tweets by the likes of Rob Corddry, Jake Tapper and TV’s Andy Levy. The R-rated trailer features copious violence and profanity, but the clip’s heat is generated by the source of the mayhem: 12-year-old vigilante Hit Girl. Is this a post-ironic hoot, or the end of western civilization as we know it? You tell me.

First, as far as I can tell, there was “Bad Shiksa” (FIRST!). Next there was “Eight Days of Hannukah” by Orrin Hatch, followed by a cover of Adam Sandler‘s Hanukkah Song by Neil Diamond. Then there was Eli Roth and Harvey Levin looking ready to take their act to the Catskills — and now, not [...]

I’ve written before about Funny or Die as an essential platform for established artists looking to present a different side of themselves, send a message or just have ridiculous fun. But what I realized just now after clicking on a video from their newsletter is that they are the only platform — besides maybe YouPorn [...]

New York, I Love You, which opens Friday, is an anthology of 10+ shorts directed by the likes of Brett Ratner to Natalie Portman, and starring almost every actor in the world. To celebrate its arrival — and the arrival of glorious fall in New York — we’ve nostalgically compiled a list of the cheesiest, most romantic, most epic, and irresistible movies starring our favorite city. Enjoy!

We’ve all witnessed the rise, fall and rebirth (repeat) of those special creatures who have been famous since childhood. This fall, a few glossy magazines have reserved their cover spot for women who came of age under the spotlight, but with new projects (and new bodies!) they seem to be doing all right. But which cover most successfully documents the embattled maturation of a child star? Cover Wars decides.

The Internet has been crackling with weird, random celebrity death rumors since last Thursday, when Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. Thursday night rumors of Jeff Goldblum’s demise were greatly exaggerated via Twitter (trending topic!); the actual death on Sunday of TV pitchman Billy Mays seems to have added to the actual celebrity-death trend (begun [...]