Quinta Brunson, creator and star of ABC comedy Abbott Elementary, will speak at the New Yorker Festival Saturday, October 8. She will be interviewed by New Yorker staff writer Doreen St. Felix. 

The New Yorker Festival happens October 7-9 in New York. Aubrey Plaza, star of Little Demon on FXX, appears Friday, October 7, as do Hasan Minhaj, creator of Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and Phoebe Robinson, creator of HBO’s 2 Dope Queens and Freeform’s Everything’s Trash. 

Among the stars of TV appearing at the festival, Jerrod Carmichael turns up October 8 and Vanessa Bayer and Molly Shannon speak on the same day. 

Sharon Horgan, creator of Bad Sisters on Apple TV Plus, will speak Sunday, October 9. Horgan’s credits include Catastrophe on Prime Video. 

Other boldface names to appear at the fest include Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Events happen at a variety of venues around New York. ■

Season Four of The Carbonaro Effect starts on truTV May 17, with master prankster Michael Carbonaro offering a fresh batch of tricks and stunts. “The show runs the gamut from completely silly,” Carbonaro said, “to making someone believe we transport through time.”

Indeed, one stunt, shot at the Chicago History Museum, employs a large machine that Carbonaro described as a “revamped Tesla coil” for time travel. An electrician plugs it in, then “vaporizes into thin air,” Carbonaro said. The electrician then turns up in an old newspaper story about the coil, posted next to it.

Carbonaro described the trick as “a full-on cinematic story we crammed into two and a half minutes.”

Another one: A man helps Carbonaro pack up stuff in a barn that Carbonaro’s family once owned. As the man packs, a random guy turns up to chat, then disappears, leaving a scarecrow in his wake. Carbonaro then shows the man a photograph of his grandfather — the same fellow that showed up in the barn for a chat a moment before.

“The show teeters the line between comedy and The Twilight Zone,” Carbonaro said.

He counts among his influences Steven Spielberg and David Copperfield. Carbonaro mentions presenting Copperfield with a Magician of the Decade award recently. “It was a chance for me to tell David how he shaped my creative magic forces,” Carbonaro said.

Dark comedy Motherland, from Sharon Horgan, has started on streaming service Sundance Now. Horgan is the star and creator of Amazon’s lethally funny Catastrophe, and executive produces HBO’s Divorce as well.

Motherland is about what stay-at-home moms do when the rest of the planet’s inhabitants go off to work or school. Graham and Helen Linehan wanted to write about “that particular time of day when the only people around are generally moms,” Horgan said. “It’s how you survive that kind of situation, the tribe you form to get you through it in one piece.”

Anna Maxwell Martin stars. What stands out about Motherland, besides Maxwell Martin’s frantic performance and its mix of anxiety and humor? “I don’t feel like there’s much on TV that shows friendship of women that particular age,” Horgan said. “And we’re quite prepared to show mothers f---ing up.”

The show has performed way better than expected on the BBC, said Horgan, prompting moms to ask each other what kind of mother they are — a Liz (chaotic, but gets the job done) or a Julia (total spaz)?

Horgan is the mother of a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old. Is she a Liz or a Julia? “I want to be a Liz,” she said. “But I’m probably more of a Julia.”

A few days after the U.K.’s Channel 4 ordered seasons three and four of comedy Catastrophe, U.S. distribution partner Amazon announced it is on board to stream the two seasons.

Season three will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in 2017 and season four in 2018. Each season features six episodes.

Catastrophe stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, who write the show as well. Playing “Sharon” and “Rob,” the two hook up while Rob is on a business trip to London and later deal with Sharon’s pregnancy. Carrie Fisher plays Rob’s mother back in the United States.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

IFC shared its new programming slate at an upfront event in New York April 21, sneak-peeking eight comedies from the likes of Bryan Cranston, Hank Azaria and Sharon Horgan.

Cranston is executive producer on Todd Barth Can Help You, about a nerd who transforms himself into a self-help guru. Azaria stars in Brockmire, a Funny or Die production about a beloved baseball announcer who suffers a very public meltdown. Horgan, costar on Amazon’s Catastrophe, is starring in This Land Is Ours, about anarchist squatters in present day New York (produced by her production company Merman).

"These projects reflect our mission to make great content with cool people," said IFC president Jennifer Caserta. “At IFC, we are driven by developing smart comedy that is 'Slightly Off' and working with the very best creative forces, both in front of and behind the camera."

Seth Meyers was on hand to talk about season two of Documentary Now! Executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video, Documentary Now! returns this fall with seven new docu-spoofs showcasing the comedic talents of Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and others.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.