The Improv at Harrah's Las Vegas, which is affiliated with Los Angeles' Improv comedy club, has begun a contest to find the "next funniest person" in the US. The contest is being held in conjunction with the release of the movie "Funny People" on DVD and Blu-Ray. To win, you must video yourself for at least one minute performing your best jokes, upload the video to the "Funny People" section of comedy website ijoke, and wait for a panel of pros to pick you -- with any luck.  Budd Friedman, who founded The Improv and has helped the careers of Jay Leno, Sarah Silverman, Adam Sandler and others, is one of the people sponsoring the contest, which runs two weeks from Nov. 24 to Dec. 8.

The panel of judges will pick 5 videos that will be posted on ijoke no later than Dec. 14, and people can then vote. From there, three finalists will be chosen and flown to Las Vegas to perform at The Improv at Harrah's. One winner will be chosen from the group of three and win a grand prize of a six-night gig at the club in 2010 -- not too shabby, as Sandler might say.

So, if you are reading this in the States and the turkey has settled in and you're wondering what's next. Look in the mirror at that newly rounded stomach of yours and smile. Then, take out your video camera and make the rest of us laugh. For more info, click here.

We're not taking anything away from Donny, but we note that he's been singing and dancing since he was a kid with the Osmond Brothers. He's had hit records, hit TV shows, hit Broadway shows and hit Las Vegas shows. How hard could "Dancing" have been?

Well, a lot harder than, we admit, we thought. Turns out Donny was dancing on a broken toe! (Read about that here).

We also feel somewhat sorry for sister Marie. It seems she was always second fiddle to her older brother, even when they shared the stage on their old "Donny and Marie" show in the 1970s. She also competed on "Dancing with the Stars" in a previous season, and she finished third. Last night, after Donny held his trophy over his head, hugged his partner Kym Johnson and brought his wife on the ballroom floor, Donny rushed into the audience and dragged Marie out there, too. Donny was No. 1 again. Did he have to rub Marie's face in it?

Maybe we're being a little too hard on the teen heartthrob and "Puppy Love" singer. After all, we do like the fact that he transcended childhood stardom and became a real professional as an adult. Danny Bonaduce, (The Partridge Family) he is definitely not. And Michael Jackson?

Still, he entered the show with a leg up on all the competition, which only makes us wonder, did he deserve it over the others?

(Photo Credit: Adam Larkey; American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.)

Since when did girls start liking guys that stay up all hours at night -- drinking? Blood, no less. Since when? Since always. And if a vamp knows how to bite more than her neck, all the better.

Vampire flicks have come a long way since Bella Lugosi, and while we're a little young to have seen Lugosi in theaters, we do remember Jim Carrey and Lauren Hutton in "Once Bitten" (Today, that would be titled "Cougar Vampire"). We remember "An American Werewolf in London" and "Teen Wolf" -- we're allowed to mention werewolves given "New Moon" and its pack. And we can say, the beasts are doing far better today romancing the gals.

On the the subject of vamps, we note Johnny Depp was named People magazine's sexiest man of the year (you can read about that here) last week. Johnny Depp? Everybody knows Robert Pattinson is the sexiest man -- or is it Taylor Lautner? C'mon you "Twi-hards" (that's a few of you pictured at the premiere at left), which is it: vampire Edward Cullen or werewolf Jacob Black? Pattinson or Lautner?

The movie smashed weekend box office records with a domestic haul of nearly $141 million (read that here), and we were out there again. We asked women: would they let Robert Pattinson drink their blood? The answer is below.

With Hollywood glitz usually reserved for the launch of a Star Ship -- namely the Enterprise -- Paramount Home Entertainment on Tuesday released director J.J. Abrams' recent re-boot of "Star Trek" on DVD and Blu-ray. It's little wonder that Paramount pulled out all the stops to "premiere" the DVD. The movie was a big hit this past summer ($384 million at box offices), and Abrams is a star director having created "Alias" and "Lost" for TV and directed "Mission: Impossible III."

So, Monday night at Los Angeles' historic Griffith Observatory, high above the galaxy that is Hollywood, Paramount threw a star-studded bash the likes this planet had never seen for a "Star Trek" DVD. Abrams and many of the film's stars beamed onto the red carpet just steps away from the Observatory’s Leonard Nimoy (that's Spock to you older Trekkies) Event Horizon Theater. They were all smiles when discussing their big hit this past summer, but remained tight-lipped about details of the upcoming sequel.

“I haven’t made any decisions,” was the oft repeated answer to questions regarding a possible release date, if Abrams was officially on board to direct, and whether or not the film would be released in 3-D. Although Abrams did say he was “open” to the possibility of a 3-D sequel, one thing he was 100 percent certain about was that there would not be a “Directors Cut” of the current film.

Other members of the new "Star Trek" universe were more willing to discuss how they wanted events to unfold ahead -- in the 23^rd Century. Zoë Saldana (Uhura) “wouldn’t mind having a couple Spock-Babies,” John Cho wanted his Sulu character to learn more martial arts and possibly become “a poet,” and Karl Urban would like McCoy to say “I’m a Doctor, not a Scientologist!” As for more Spock, Leonard Nimoy told us, “there’s more Spock to play – and Zachary Quinto is going to do it.”

Outside the Observatory under the stars, Green Orion Slave Girls served Romulan Ale and “Red Matter” (the mysterious power source used so villainously by Eric Bana’s “Nero” in the film), welcoming revelers to party like it’s 2258.1999.

Paramount is confident -- and they should be based on the film's box office -- that DVD and Blu-ray sales will take this film’s profits where no "Star Trek" DVD has gone before. The two disc DVD and three disc Blu-ray Special Edition have hours of additional material, so there’s something to please even the grumpiest Klingon. Features include behind-the-scenes featurettes, nine deleted scenes, a “gag” reel, director and creative team commentary, and many other tribble-sized bits of fun. But the party was anything but tribble small. Click below for some video of the event, but pardon us for some of the shaky video, we were having difficulties juggling notes and pens and microphones and cameras.

Director Roland Emmerich blew up the White House in "Independence Day" and froze New York City in "The Day After Tomorrow," so you'd think the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security would be watching out for him. But in his latest effort, disaster movie "2012," he destroyed the entire world!

And global box offices with it. The movie raked in a whopping $225 million at global box offices with its debut this past weekend. (Read about that here.)

It proved to be the perfect "popcorn movie," as they say in Hollywood. It's just pure fun; not much to think about. Emmerich destroys cities and countrysides with earthquakes, explosions and floods. Leading man John Cusack is able to escape one of these natural disasters JUST in the nick of time with his family -- all unharmed. Sheesh!! But the thing is -- and what's good about good popcorn flicks -- is that while Cusack's denying all the laws of physics, we think you'd be saying, "Oh, that could never happen," but instead you're saying "Come on, John. Go!! Go!! You can make it!!!.

Woody Harrelson provides some comic relief and Amanda Peet offers up a subplot about family and love and all that other touchy, feely stuff. But if you're going to "2012" for the plot ... well, we think it's better to focus on the special effects. In the screening we were at over the weekend, audiences liked the movie, alot. It seemed like they had fun and they left smiling. Click below to see what fans had to say. And then, if you think about it, how would you live differently if you only had about two more years?

But does that spell "humbug" for "A Christmas Carol"? Maybe not.

You can read about the movie here and the box office here. Or, you can watch the video below and see what people coming out of the theaters thought.

(Video by Marc Price)

Fans might remember that the same scenario played out for 3-D adventure "The Polar Express" from the same director, Robert Zemeckis. Like "Christmas Carol," "Polar Express" was an expensive, motion-capture animated movie, and it too opened in November to just over $30 million. At the time, that figure was deemed a disappointment by  box office watchers, but the film kept on chugging along at box offices throughout the holidays. It eventually earned more than $180 million in total domestic ticket sales ($300 million worldwide) and has become something of a modern holiday classic.

Meanwhile, Oscar hopeful "Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" also debuted over the weekend in a limited number of theaters, 18, to a whopping $100,000 per theater for a total $1.8 million. This dark drama about a young woman who must overcome a dismal urban life, is widely picked among Oscar watchers as an early awards favorite for the movie and for its two key actresses, newcomer Gabourey Sidibe and comic actress Mo'Nique. You can read about it here and here. And we asked fans about it, too,  which you can see in the video above.

In excerpts from Brown's interview released Wednesday by MTV News, Brown said he is "confused right now as far as the public perception of me...I got the people that come out and support me and I got the people who don't want to see me do anything. They want to see me, kind of, basically, in jail."

Brown's excerpts follow by one day the release of an interview Rihanna gave to Glamour magazine in which she talked publicly about the incident for the first time. She told Glamour she wanted to alert young women to the "big secret" of abusive relationships. "Teenage girls can't tell their parents that their boyfriend beats them up...It's one of the things we (women) hide because it's embarrassing," Rihanna said. You can read a story about it here.

Brown, 20, already had been interviewed before by Larry King (read about that here), but the chat with MTV News promises to be even more revealing. It airs on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. ET/PT. Rihanna, 21, will talk to Sawyer on ABC's morning chat show "Good Morning America" on Thursday and Friday.

The interviews, not coincidentally, reach fans as both singers promote the release of new albums. They had to talk about the assault at some time -- Rihanna to share her side of the assault and Brown to try to redeem himself in the public eye -- and promotion seems as good a reason as any for the singers. Brown has already apologized, pleaded guilty to assault and been sentenced to five years probation and community service.

Rihanna, whose hit singles include "Umbrella" and "Disturbia," sees her new CD "Rated R" hit record stores on Nov. 23, and Brown's record label said on Wednesday that the release of his "Grafitti" has been pushed forward by one week to Dec. 8. He also begins a "Fan Appreciation Tour" on Nov. 14.

After all, their only two pull quotes from the press release issued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ranged from Martin's mildly funny "I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin," to a decidedly mixed statement from Baldwin, "I don't play the banjo but I'm thrilled to be hosting the Oscars -- it's the opportunity of a lifetime."

Baldwin's first reference is, of course, a joke about Martin's love of the banjo, but the last half of the statement sounds rather serious.

It seems like salt and pepper, oil and water, but maybe that's exactly what Oscar organizers are hoping for. And, if nothing else, it looks to generate some publicity and maybe even some controversy given Baldwin's history with social and political activism. Yet, no matter how you slice it, it's an odd pick and left more than one or two Hollywood publicists scratching their heads in Hollywood.

So, we leave it to you. Martin (the standup comedian) and Baldwin (the actor) co-hosting the world's top film awards. Good choice? Bad? Or somewhere in between, which in some ways would be the worst choice of all because it might not elicit any reaction. And if they were successful, could it be a new comedy team: Martin and Baldwin? Or would it be Baldwin and Martin? We'd love to be a fly on the wall in that conversation among Hollywood agents.

In fact Columbia Pictures, the movie studio behind the film that looks at Jackson's rehearsals for the London concerts that were to have been his comeback, said on Sunday it would extend the run in theaters.

The movie turned in a solid, if less than spectacular, debut at theaters around the world this weekend. Its total ticket sales since its debut last Wednesday are $101 million -- $32.5 million in the U.S. and Canada and another $68.5 million. You can read about the box office here and a review here. And if you want to watch what some moviegoers had to say about "This Is It," click below.

The film had been described as a sort of mix between documentary of his last rehearsals for his "This Is It" concerts and a concert film. It was made from some 80 hours of videos made during those rehearsals that took place only days before his sudden death on June 25.

The movie shows Jackson working with his singers, dancers and musicians, showing them just exactly how he wanted each dance and each tune to play out onstage. At one point, director Kenny Ortega asks him how he'll know a certain cue for a movement if he can't see a movie screen behind him and at first Jackson seems surprised at the question. Then, he calmly answers, "I gotta feel it."

And in the audience, you understand that, in fact, feeling it is exactly how he performed. Leaving the theater, several audience members were also struck by the notion that even though "This Is It" has been billed as the King of Pop's final performance, somehow, there's much more of Michael Jackson to come. He is said to have written numerous songs that were never recorded, and his songs like "Thriller" and "Billie Jean" and "Man in the Mirror" will no doubt be re-recorded and re-mixed and re-staged numerous times in the future.

So, really, is "This Is It" really it? Or will the King of Pop live on?