The Soupman

There aren't many TV shows that I get excited about these days, and frankly I never thought a show on E! would ever be on that list, but if you haven't seen The Soup, you are really missing out. The show, originally called Talk Soup and hosted by Greg Kinnear, now features Joel McHale, who spends 30 minutes each week ripping on clips from talk and reality shows and poking fun at celebrities. My only criticism is that he's really bad at reading the teleprompter, although my colleague Merritt Martin claims it's for laughs. But one thing we can agree on is that McHale is freakin' hilarious. His bio on eonline.com calls him "one of the whitest and most depressed television hosts around" and notes that McHale "honed his craft, played videogames and discovered his true passion was single-malt scotch" while earning his master's degree. McHale is taking a shot at stand-up comedy, but without segments such as Chat Stew, Reality Show Clip Time and Clip of the Week, will he still be funny? Is it worth $32.50 to see him without Mankini (Nic DeLeo), The Dancing Maxi Pad (Tess Rafferty) and Lou the Chihuahua? Find out at the Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Call 214-880-0137 or visit liveatthemajestic.com.
Sat., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., 2008