This past Sunday brought one of my favorite events of the past year to the Cinefamily: “America’s Funnyman” Neil Hamburger made a live appearance at one of our Comedy Death-Ray nights to pay tribute to his all-time favorite entertainer, Frank Sinatra, . Neil said that Frank Jr.’s ambivalence towards his own career, mixed with a healthy dose of professionalism and sadness, gives him the shivers — in a good way.

Neil shared some rare Frank, Jr. TV appearance clips with the audience, as well as railed on Comedy Death-Ray host Scott Aukerman for bringing up the distasteful anecdote about Frank, Jr.’s kidnapping in the early 1960s.

Neil Hamburger (1 of 2)

Neil Hamburger (2 of 2)

- bret

Folk troubador Will Oldham (aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) is not only a fantastic songsmith, but a huge movie fan to boot. Last week, we gave him an evening in which to program a double feature of his choosing, which ended up being the early Nicholas Ray film “A Woman’s Secret”, plus the early Wim Wenders film “Alice In The Cities”. Here, he talks with our head programmer Hadrian about what he likes so much about both films.

Will Oldham Q&A (1 of 2)

Will Oldham Q&A (2 of 2)

- bret

It’s always a serious pleasure whenever Bobcat Goldthwait graces our presence, and we were thrilled to host a preview screening of his latest film, “World’s Greatest Dad”, starring Robin Williams. Here’s the Q&A that happened after the film…

Bobcat Goldthwait Q&A (1 of 2)

Bobcat Goldthwait QA& (2 of 2)

- bret

Our Andy Kaufman tribute night was a great avenue to show the audience recently unearthed Kaufman clips that had never been seen by any audience before, EVER! Lynne Marguiles (author of the new book “Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!”, and Kaufman’s former girlfriend) and Bob Zmuda (Kaufman’s closest friend and comedy collaborator) were on-hand to reminisce about the late, great Kaufman, as well as give some background on his ingenious brand of comedy pranks, and his love of professional wrestling.

Bob Zmuda & Lynne Margulies (1 of 3)

Bob Zmuda & Lynne Margulies (2 of 3)

Bob Zmuda & Lynne Margulies (3 of 3)

- bret

Right before the theatrical release of “Where The Wild Things Are”, The Cinefamily hosted a fantastic tribute night to Wild Things author Maurice Sendak, which climaxed with the L.A. premiere of a brand-new documentary co-directed by Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs, called Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak.

After the screening, Lance was kind enough to stick around and give the audience more background on the doc.

- bret

Our “Ladies Night” double feature (curated by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy aka Will Oldham) just got a big mention from Randall Roberts on the L.A. Weekly blog!

- bret

Comedy Death-Ray (held Tuesdays at the UCB Theater) is famous for offering world-class comics in an intimate and revealing setting. Host Scott Aukerman also comes to the Cinefamily every first Sunday of the month, for film screenings chosen by some of the same comics that grace the Comedy Death-Ray stage.

Back on Sept. 6, Scott brought out comedian Paul F. Tompkins (“Mr. Show”, VH1’s “Best Week Ever”) for a 35mm screening of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Here’s footage from Paul’s introduction to the film…

- bret

Jerry Beck’s upcoming “Cartoon Christmas Chaos!” show (on Tuesday, Dec. 22) just got picked by David Cotner of the L.A. Weekly as one of their event picks of the week!.

When indie animator Don Hertzfeld came to the Cinefamily last year while on tour with his latest short “I Am So Proud Of You”, we knew the event would be big — but we had no idea that it’d be one of the biggest events we’ve ever hosted!

Hertzfeld sold out three successive shows in one evening, a feat we’ve yet to match. Hertzfeld’s fans were so passionate that we were taken totally by surprise. Lucikly we managed to capture the Q&A session from the second show, moderated by Cinemad publisher/Sundance film programmer/longtime Cinefamily friend Mike Plante.

NOTE: We apologize for the dim picture quality on these clips — the Q&A session was shot under low-light conditions, and we’ve enhanced the image as much as possible before it got to the completely-washed-out point.

Don Hertzfeld Q&A (1 of 2)

Don Hertzfeld Q&A (2 of 2)

- bret

Both outlaw country legend Steve Young and local twangers I See Hawks In L.A. will be performing live tomorrow night (Saturday, Dec. 12th), as part of our Cinefamily Country Christmas Party night, in addition to our encore screening of “Heartworn Highways”, the classic ’70s country music documentary.

Here’s some clips of the music to come tomorrow night:

Steve Young – “Alabama Highway” (outtake from Heartworn Highways)

Steve Young – “The Ballad of William Sycamore”

I see Hawks In L.A. – live on BBC Radio Ulster)

I see Hawks In L.A. – Wonder Valley

“Heartworn Highways” on DVD
I See Hawks In L.A. on Amazon MP3 Store

- bret