From Soap Operas to THIS new commercial to Hangover 2!

The last time we saw Dr. and actor Roy Vongtama (C'96), he was a playing a bartender on "Young and the Restless".

After the jump, watch the new commercial he's in and find out more about his role (sort of) in this weekend's newly released Hangover 2!

SNL Penn alum asked Lorne Michaels...what?

Last week, SNL (and Penn alum) Vanessa Bayer (C'04) was the commencement speaker at Annenberg's undergraduate graduation ceremony.

After the jump, watch the speech, find out about Vanessa's path from Penn to SNL, which group at Penn passed on the "Bayer magic", and why she didn't really want to get a role in a Planters Peanut commercial she was called in for!

Her Writing Process: No Outline? (video)

Recently, I covered Penn alum author Laura Dave (C'99) and her books The Divorce Party, London is the Best City in America and now her new book The First Husband (read an excerpt here).

After the jump, check out a new video from Laura and find out:

• how she does research for her books before she starts writing
• her alternate approach to writing without an outline
• how long (and how many drafts) it takes her to write a book

And for you Los Angelinos, tonight Laura will be doing a reading, Q&A and signing at the Barnes and Nobles in The Grove at 7 pm.

This Penn Alum's 20 minute stamina has him hitting the comedy sweetspot

Over the past 4+ years, I've covered lots of alumni performing improv.

There is one particular style of improv that has really caught my eye, or I should say ear: the musical improv.

After the jump, watch how Tom Christensen's (W'03, Mask and Wig) mind works as he spins the suggested phrase "You go get her boy" into a one-man musical about: a boy who crushes on a girl, a dorky chemistry teacher, jealous friends ruling the school, a frank conversation between a mother and son, and "popular girls".

And don't blame if you find yourself humming the tune to his featured "I'm not a date rapist" song all day.

Seriously, watch how his mind works.

Oops! Denzel Washington falls forward with his zipper open

He may have successfully zipped up the the commencement speech he gave at Penn last week, but apparently he forgot to zip up.

After the jump, check out a quick, behind-the-scenes video of him leaving the stage to get into his car and realizing he has some business to tend to....

Watch this clever, newly released Muppets trailer!

If you recall, a few months ago, Penn alum Todd Lieberman (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) was busy producing the latest Muppet movie due out in November.

The movie has wrapped and now the film's clever new marketing campaign has hit the web.

After the jump, check out this fun new "fake" trailer for a movie called Green with Envy and just keep watching until minute 0:51.

Love it!

Dunzo: Penn alum chooses Neuroscience over Music

After 11 DT vlogs, the duo (Ben Naecker (C'09, Water Polo) and Blake West (W'09, Jazz Combos)) who moved to Austin to pursue music is about to split up.

Why? Because Ben is going to Stanford to pursue a career in Neuroscience.

In this Penn-ultimate episode (pun intended), after the jump find out some tips about:

• how they got some new gigs
• some great resources for e-mailing booking agents
• and footage from the recent EP sessions.