Photo by Keith Black / HOIXIOH

Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Robert Trachtenberg at Paley Center

Mel Brooks doesn't think he's an American master.

That's someone like Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway, says the creator of the funniest farting scene in the history of film.

But Susan Lacy, executive producer of PBS' American Masters series, thought differently, and convinced Brooks to dispense with his modesty just this once.

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Ross Ching

From left to right: Lara Flynn Boyle, director Penelope Spheeris, Mike Myers, producer Lorne Michaels, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Dana Carvey and executive producer Hawk Koch

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*The Five Most Culturally Significant Wayne's World Songs

Last night, the cast and crew of the SNL sketch-turned-feature Wayne's World gathered at the Academy -- of all places -- to celebrate the film's 21st anniversary. (It probably helped that host Hawk Koch, executive producer of Wayne's World, currently serves as Academy president.) There were no signs of any residual, alleged animosity between Mike Myers and co-star Dana Carvey or director Penelope Spheeris. But just in case, no interviews were allowed during the reception prior to the pre-screening panel and Koch kept his questions neutral during the Q&A.

It played more like a family reunion -- a hugging fest with people who probably haven't seen or talked to each other in ages. Tia Carrere showed a photo of her daughter on her phone with co-stars Lowe, Myers and Carvey. Lowe jumped into Myers' individual photo op moment to kiss him on the cheek. Everyone simply seemed to want to celebrate the fruit of their labor from over two decades ago and rehash the good times had in the process -- especially the fans, who, according to Koch, bought out all the tickets to this event within ninety seconds of it going on sale.

So for those of you who weren't as quick on the trigger, here are the highlights from the panel, which included Myers, Carvey, Lowe, Spheeris and producer Lorne Michaels:

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Photo by Stefanie Keenan ©2013Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Takashi Murakami and Kurage-bo at LACMA on Monday, at the world premiere of Jellyfish Eyes

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In front of a giant movie screen, Takashi Murakami speaks as a large, pink creature next to him flaps its arms up and down excitedly. Imagine your average pink manga character with human arms and legs topped off by a head with huge eyes and darker pink strands of what looks like hair. The cute character obviously moves thanks to a human operating it from the inside, but the audience giggles as it flitters about next to Murakami as if it actually existed as a visitor from some made-up land.

That land is actually a world that Murakami crafts through Jellyfish Eyes, his first feature film as a director, which comes out April 26. Last night at LACMA, fans gathered for the film's international premiere.

In the film, that adorable creature goes by the name of Kurage-bo, translated to "Jellyfish Boy," and stays by the side of the young Masashi, who recently moved to a new town in Japan and is mourning the death of his father.

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Douglas Campbell

Rick Santati vs Jason "Mayhem" Miller

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*50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best City in America
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Last night, in a downtown warehouse, pugilists and pawns united to raise money for a worthy cause. The unorthodox fundraising organization Tuxedo Tyrants teamed up with the LA Chessboxing Club to present Brain Meets Brawn, a charity event showcasing the nascent sport of chessboxing. All proceeds contribute to The Tiziano Project, which teaches citizen journalism in war-torn regions of the world.

The concept is simple: Two combatants play a 3-minute round of chess, immediately followed by a 3-minute round of boxing. This pattern is repeated until one of the competitors either checkmates or defeats his opponent in the ring.

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Josiah Golojuh

WIP Featured Artists Meirav Haber, Kevin McTurk, and Sam Koji Hale

A movie must be completed before its screened, right? Not according to Graphation.

Last night, in Downtown Los Angeles' Hive Gallery, the independent film group kickstarted their first installment of Works In Progress by presenting three unfinished films to an audience. The focus of the WIP series is less on product and more on process.

"We want these things to be educational," Andrew McGregor, who comprises half of Graphation, explained during an after show interview. "We've shown finished works in the past, and the questions are always, "How did you come to this conclusion, this destination?" We want to be a resource to the creative community. With the digital revolution, you can make your own movie with an iPhone, but what does that actually mean unless you know how to shoot a film with your iPhone."

McGregor, clad in a cacophony of of patterns and capped by his signature, Jughead-esque felt crown, hosted this evening of movie demystification with his creative partner Josiah Golojuh. This initial WIP showcased a troika of filmmakers specializing in puppet based storytelling. Several dozen attendees crowded into the gallery to watch these artists present hand crafted claymation characters, field questions concerning their creative journeys and screen rough scenes from their infant projects.

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Michael Kovac/Getty Images, courtesy of Craig Bankey

Jon Hamm and Adam Scott

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"Ladies, please prepare your vaginas," announced actor/comedian Aziz Ansari Monday night at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, introducing masters of ceremonies Jon Hamm and Adam Scott to the sold-out crowd at the "We Hate Hurricanes" benefit, where over $100,000 was raised for AmeriCares to aid Hurricane Sandy victims.

Wearing suits, they entered the stage playfully, jumping up and down and keeping the tone light. Hamm said, wryly, "I didn't realize the full on hate people have for hurricanes," before referring to Sandy as "a bitch." When a female audience member screamed, "You're so sexy," neither Hamm nor Scott missed a beat. "That one was for you," said Scott. "There's your new nickname," countered Hamm. "Adam, 'You're So Sexy' Scott."

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Star Foreman

Backstage at Comedy Bang Bang's Nativity Pageant

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*Our Slideshow on Comedy Bang Bang's Nativity Pageant
*10 Best Stand-Up Comedy Shows in Los Angeles

Some folks will tell you that the War on Christmas begins every Black Friday -- a day when faithless, mouth-breathing hordes descend upon shopping malls in an orgy of consumerism that openly mocks Jesus's's [sic] birthday. Well, last night at the Ricardo Montalban Theater, a different kind of orgy took place -- an orgy of comedy for charity -- and this one was in defense of Christmas: Comedy Bang Bang's Annual Nativity Pageant.

Founder and host Scott Aukerman put together a wholesome Christ-centered evening of dick, fart and AIDS jokes from a massive slate of funny people to support the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. To list everyone wouldn't be fair to the more famous people. Just trust us, it was a big deal -- and clocking in at just over four hours, it wasn't a minute too short. Even for an orgy.

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Hornby

Nick Hornby rose to fame for expertly explaining the man-boy world to legions. His memoir Fever Pitch chronicles his devotion to the Arsenal football (soccer) club. His novels High Fidelity, About a Boy and, more recently, Juliet, Naked talk of grown men still struggling with relationships.

But Hornby is also well-known as a screenwriter and essayist. He received an Oscar nomination for screenplay adaptation for the 2009 Carey Mulligan-Peter Sarsgaard drama An Education and he writes a column on reading (called, appropriately, "Stuff I've Been Reading") for The Believer magazine. Hornby's fourth collection of these essays, More Baths Less Talking, was released earlier this year.

On Monday night, he joined journalist and author Tom Bissell at the Writers Guild Theater to discuss writing, reading and pop culture as part of the Writer's Bloc series. As a tribute to Hornby's High Fidelity and its main character's obsession with lists, we offer the top five takeaways from that conversation.

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Todd Cole, Courtesy of Center for the Art of Performance At UCLA

"Grab the nearest stranger..." Oh shit. Here we go.

This is how film director and artist Miranda July chose to begin her performance piece Auction last night at Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

Where we were sitting, the nearest stranger didn't want to be touched, and the next-nearest stranger, a winsome elderly woman, was a little too cool with it.

July then proceeded to list all of the things that may or may not happen with this stranger, everything ranging from the possibility that we may end up dating one of their friends, to losing this person to the ravages of drug addiction. We were certain she had all of it wrong with our particular next-nearest stranger -- until she got to death. "This person may die soon..."

Double shit.

Then we had to sit there for the next 90 minutes thinking about how our nice elderly next-nearest stranger might actually get there sooner than everyone else in the room. July asked us all to squeeze that person who we'll one day let go of.

We'd already let go. Physically.

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Liz Ohanesian

Peaches Christ and Elvira at Elvira's Haunted Hunt

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A block-full of people descended upon Elvira's Macabre Mobile last night as the Mistress of the Dark pulled up in front of Los Feliz's Vista Theatre with fellow midnight movie authority Peaches Christ in tow. Cameras flashed, crowds swarmed and they emerged from the vehicle with big hair and bigger smiles. But, for every bit of grim glitz these two divas of dread brought to the Vista's red carpet, they were here for a decidedly unglamorous cause. They were here as the champions of independent film frights.

Elvira's Horror Hunt is a first-year film contest/festival helmed by the legendary late-night movie hostess and Peaches Christ, the famed drag performer renowned for her Midnight Mass movie screenings in San Francisco. They put together the contest in connection with HorrorHound Magazine. Submissions were judged by the duo, as well as performers Sybil Danning, Bill Moseley and Joe Bob Briggs. The grand prize-winning entries in both the film short and feature-length categories were screened at the Vista for a special event presented by Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo, the pop culture convention taking place this weekend.

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