Have you ever really experienced Burning Love? I mean have you ever really hunkered down and made a two-hour marathon of it with 200 or so total strangers? It might sound like an overwhelming experience because there is just so much to take in, so I wholeheartedly recommend inviting “Macho Man” Ken Marino to join in the festivities, as he will surely make you feel at ease each and every time that he offers up his hose. In case you have not already guessed, I am talking about Marino’s Yahoo! Comedy series, Burning Love. Alamo Drafthouse programmer John Gross brought star/director/producer Ken Marino and writer/producer Erica Oyama to the Alamo South Lamar (Austin) this past weekend for a Burning Love Marathon (proceeds from the ticket sales went directly to the Austin Firefighters’ Relief & Outreach Fund). Admittedly, I had never succumbed to the temptation of Burning Love prior to this marathon event, mainly because I do not enjoy watching television shows online. Luckily, Marino is a frequent visitor to Austin so I knew an event like this one would probably come to fruition eventually. I had missed the sneak peaks of Burning Love at the Off-Centered Film Fest and the Ultimate Childrens Hospital Marathon, but now I am glad to have waited to experience all 14 episodes of the first season in one sitting. Because… Wow! It is a really great series to experience with a drunkenly enthusiastic audience.

Watching the trailer for Wanderlust – the new movie directed by Wet Hot American Summer director David Wain – makes me want to watch every episode of The State all over again. In short, I wanna dip my balls in it. Starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as rat-racers in New York who have to leave the race and find themselves learning the communal life, the trailer looks knock-down, drag-out hilarious. Some great gags from some truly disturbed/gifted comic minds are on display here. Check it out for yourself, and see how many State alumni you can spot:

Seeing as it was on the Starz network and only lasted for two seasons, there are probably a lot of people out there who haven’t heard of the TV show Party Down. But seeing as it was one of the best shows on recent television, there are also a lot of people who hold it very dear to their hearts. That tends to happen when something is good, and kept away from the mainstream, and ended prematurely. Traditionally, a TV show reaching cult status has always been a good recipe for strong DVD sales, and then talks of a film adaptation. Shows like Arrested Development and even Party Down creator Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars have gone through the same process. Also traditionally, despite the fact that the DVD sales raise a lot of studio eyebrows, the film version never comes to fruition. Could Party Down change all of that? Probably not, but they’re going to try.

When only 74,000 people watch your second season finale, you can’t exactly count on being renewed. Such is the case for the creators of Party Down, the latest in a long line of great comedy shows canceled before they were able to reach their prime. After two gloriously offbeat seasons, Starz has decided not to renew the Adam Scott and Ken Marino-led show. And while it disappoints me, as a fan of the show, to see it go, it’s clear that this was the inevitable endgame.

Season 2 opens with a bang as we find our misfit heroes wrapping up a four-week cross-country road trip that leaves them jobless, homeless, and in a hole with the Devil upon their return.