Timothy Olyphant attends 'Damages' second season premiere in New York. (photo: Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic.com)

No Handicap

Lisa Lampanelli must have pulled a lot of pigtails in her day. She claims her insult style of humor is borne of affection and that those with self-love aren't insulted by her barbs. To wit: "I remember having this wheelchair guy get mad at me once during a show in Manhattan. I didn't see that he had the wheels over there. I thought he was just a normal, good-looking guy. Whenever I see a normal, good-looking white guy, I'll just call him gay, because most great-looking guys are gay. So I made the gay jokes, and he came up to me afterward and said he thought it was weird that I didn't insult him for being in the wheelchair. Was I afraid to hurt his feelings? And I said no, 'I just didn't see your wheels. They weren't that shiny.'" (photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic.com)

[Newsday.com]

Keepin' It Real

'Rome' alum Ray Stevenson wants his new movie to be as violent as possible. That's not as crazy as it sounds; he's the new Punisher. "If you go into the books themselves, there's so much there and you have to commit fully the violence and the cost of that violence," he says. "You have the commit to the psychological impact of that — otherwise you end with a halfway house." Lucky for Stevenson, the studio footing the bill for all this ultraviolence has a strong stomach. "Their commitment is amazing, especially the fact that they're not pounding something through and soft soaping it up for a bigger audience. They didn't make 'PUNISHER' a PG-rated movie, they committed to the R-rating. It's great to see." (photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.com)

[ifmagazine.com]

Lily McDowell and her mother Mary Steenburgen arrive at the Young Storytellers Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit 'The Biggest Show' held at the Crossroads Elementary School in Santa Monica, California. (photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

But Was She Homecoming Queen?

HBO late-night star Katie Morgan may have retired from her more hard-core gigs, but it's never-say-never regarding a return to adult films. Morgan claims she's just your average industrious girl who figured a way to get paid for doing what comes naturally. "I had only fooled around with a couple girls before I got into the industry, and that was the same as everybody," she told HBO.com. "Well, maybe not everybody, but slutty girls, anyway. You get drunk at a party, and you make out with your friend to turn on the guys, right? That's what everybody does. So, high school was good times." (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)."

[HBO.com]

'Tis the Season

This time of year - the Golden Globe nominations - always seems to inspire actors' grateful sides. In the case of Melissa George, who's nominated for 'In Treatment,' it's all about the work. "It's the dialogue," she said. "It brings it back to what acting is all about. It's just so raw. You're high from it." Whereas Tom Wilkinson, whose two films ('Recount' and 'John Adams') received a total of nine nominations, expressed his support for HBO: "We've done very well together, haven't we," Wilkinson said. "I shall certainly be banging the drum for them." (photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com)."

[HBO.com]

Cynthia Nixon and Laura Linney attend the 28th Annual Muse Awards in New York City. (photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage.com)

Knockout Career

Larry Merchant has become synonymous with HBO Boxing, and the commentator's contribution is about to be officially recognized. Alongside Lennox Lewis and a number of the sport's other luminaries, Merchant will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. When the journalist got his chance to deliver a react quote, he answered: "Television is the medium of show and tell. The show, meaning the fighters, are the most important by far. I'm just one of the tellers and I am deeply honored to be a footnote of all the great fighters that are in the Hall of Fame." (photo: K. Terrell/WireImage.com)

[ABS-CBNnews.com]

Best Man?

Blake Robbins got his first big break on 'Oz,' when he landed the role of officer Dave Brass. Recently he was pleased to play John Krasinski's brother, Tom Halpert, on 'The Office.' While it's not a regular role, Robbins is hoping for some Halpert family events he can get invited to in the future. "As a fan of the show, I'd really like to see Jim and Pam get married," he said. "As an actor, I really, really hope they get married."

[BostonHerald.com]

Lukas Haas and Kim Basinger arrive on the red carpet of the Los Angeles premiere of 'While She Was Out.' (photo: Todd Williamson/WireImage.com)

Cultural Shift

It was one thing for Bubba Smith to blaze a trail for black athletes in the 1960s, but when the Texan football player (featured in the HBO doc 'Breaking the Huddle') joined his new team in Michigan, he found an entirely different form of adversity waiting for him: "Mother made sure that we had grits and eggs, bacon and toast, and I get up there ... uh, hash browns? What the hell are hash browns, for breakfast? And I'm looking for something to eat. And I saw these things that looked like Saltine crackers and I grabbed one, I bit on it, and it tastes like paper. I said, 'What is this?' Matzo. 'Matzo? They've got food named Matzo?' After that I asked about everything before I stuck it in my mouth." (photo: Tony Tomsic/Getty Images)

[Freep.com]

Playing the Wife

Shohreh Aghdashloo thought twice before deciding to take on the role of Saddam Hussein's first wife in the HBO miniseries 'House of Saddam.' The Iranian actress, known for her Oscar®-nominated turn in 'House of Sand of Fog,' as well as '24,' in which she played a Muslim terrorist, says: "But then I thought, it's such a meaty role, and it's so powerful. She's a very powerful woman." (photo: Daniel Novisedlak/WireImage.com)

[Kentucky.com]

Danny Glover and Adrian Grenier attend the 24th Annual International Documentary Association Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. (photo: Brian To/FilmMagic.com)

Wig Party

A lot of actresses of a certain age might have balked at being aged up to 74 as Laura Linney was for her role as Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries 'John Adams.' But Linney is a glass half-full kinda gal when it comes to prosthetics. "They wizened me all up and I thought, you know what? Not bad. If that's how I'm going to look that's fine by me. And then you take it off at the end of the day and you go, 'Oh my God, I'm young!' It's actually sort of refreshing."

Linney says her jobs tend to come in waves, but when her interviewer asked if that meant offers to play women with bad teeth were rolling in, she replied: "I hope not. But I've got a bunch of women who have potentially very funny-looking hair. After those wigs in John Adams, they know I can carry off the bouffant..." (photo: FilmMagic Inc/FilmMagic.com)

[Telegraph.co.uk]

Home for the Holidays

As 'Six Feet Under' alum Freddy Rodriguez showed reporters around his native Chicago, where he just finished shooting the Latino Christmas flick 'Nothing Like the Holidays,' he harkened back to his acting roots in the city. "I was pounding the pavement at 14 years old looking for work as an actor, but completely failed drama class," he says. "They were going to kick me out of the drama program, but because I was out there working, they kept me ... We're like hustlers by nature. We just get in there and get it done." (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

[Chicago Tribune via TradingMarkets.com]