Daveigh Chase arrives at Star Magazine's Young Hollywood Issue party in West Hollywood, California. (photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com)

Mile-High Clubbing

Murray, the erstwhile manager of 'Flight of the Conchords,' has booked some questionable venues for Bret and Jemaine. But perhaps none are as dubious as one of the first gigs that Rhys Darby himself played when he began his stand-up career. "It was for a new budget airline," he says. "In typical New Zealand fashion, they decided to proceed with it after 9/11. So I got up and started leaping around the aisles and everyone was terrified. If it had been an American airline, I would have been killed." (photo: Todd Williamson/WireImage.com)

[TheAge.com]

Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Martin Short attend a reception for Backstage At The Geffen Gala at the W Hotel in Los Angeles. (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

Right and Left Jabs

Bill Maher and Ann Coulter may be the cobra and mongoose of political commentary, but they actually spent years as close friends. "Not dating, as people try to say on the Internet, but friends," Maher says. Still, in preparation of their debate at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Maher didn't hesitate to throw her a backhanded compliment: "Unlike so many people in America, she was not afraid to get booed." During the discussion of who would walk away from this skirmish victorious, of course the most colorful predictions came from the commentators: "It's like the Battle of Stalingrad," says Andrew Ferguson, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard. "Any sensible person would want both of them to lose." (photo: Kristian Dowling/WireImage.com)

[NY Times]

Julianna Margulies attends the 8th annual Young Audiences New York awards benefit at Cipriani in New York. (photo: Joe Kohen/WireImage.com)

League of His Own

If the whole "starring in a baseball comedy" thing was just Danny McBride's ploy to break into minor league pitching, then the actor has finally arrived. The Pensacola Pelicans (43-53 last season) have offered McBride a contract: "Danny has played at the highest level. And after seeing the show, we think he still has some athletic potential," says owner Quint Studer. "If we can get Danny to work with our pitching coach, Justin Lord, there could be something there. Plus, I know he'll be an unusual influence in the clubhouse and a lot of fun on the bus rides." The organization has gone so far as to guarantee him a spot in the starting lineup, so now it's time for the big decision — does McBride sign with the Pelicans or hold out for the Cubs? (photo: Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com)

[PNJ.com]

Leighton Meester attends the launch of the 'Top Down' by Leighton Meester at Lady Food Locker in New York. (photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Keepin' It Real

Richard Price, the 'Clockers' author whose new book 'Lush Life' dropped jaws in the publishing world last year, has heard his name ring out endlessly for weaving together details and dialogue in an almost mesmerizing fashion. But how does the writer, who also lent his talent to 'The Wire,' manage to create a fictional Lower East Side of Manhattan that's as deep and conflicted as the real thing? "I do a considerable amount of hanging out in the world that I'm writing about," he says. "I am kinda taking notes, and at some point a note becomes a sentence and then a sentence becomes a paragraph. It's not like, 'OK, I am going to start the book.' What happens that night, sometimes it comes out as prose. Other nights, it's wet-cocktail-napkin take-down — an overheard phrase or something. ... Until I had a story, I was just writing everything down." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[SacBee.com]

Emmanuelle Chriqui attends the premiere of 'Watchmen' in Hollywood. (photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com)

Life After Death?

Lizzy Caplan, who played Amy on 'True Blood,' knew her character was going six feet under from the very beginning. But in a supernatural world of immortal vampires, death isn't necessarily forever, right? "Alan Ball had sort of mentioned something," Caplan says. "I never hold my breath for that type of thing. I would go back in a second. But it's funny, because my character — it seemed like a lot of fans really detested that character, because she was so hateful and sociopathic, so I don't know how eager people are to have her come back." (photo: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com)

[IGN.com]